... the NGOs and identity technologies multinational IDEMIA Group SAS have agreed on amendments to IDEMIA’s vigilance plan, to provide for stronger safeguards to avoid adverse impact of the use of its products by governments, as part of a settlement under France’s Due Vigilance law.

In 2018, IDEMIA entered into an agreement with the Kenyan government for the supply of hardware equipment to be used in connection with the implementation of its National Integrated Identity Management (NIIMS) digital ID system... The digital ID system was vehemently criticized by human rights groups for the absence of safeguards around how data would be safeguarded and used, the lack of transparency around its implementation, and the potential exclusion of groups that have historically struggled to secure official identity documents...

In January 2021 and April 2022, the Kenya Human Rights Commission, the Nubian Rights Forum, and the French organization Data Rights, issued formal notices to identity technologies multinational IDEMIA as the first steps in bringing a complaint forward under France’s Due Vigilance law...

The three organizations requested that IDEMIA amend its vigilance plan to meet the standards set out by the law. The human rights groups notably raised that the absence of an appropriate risk mapping and inadequate mitigation measures would not prevent IDEMIA’s products from being diverted by governments to contribute to human rights abuses, including discrimination against minority groups.

In July 2022, the claimants filed a petition before Paris courts requesting that the judge order IDEMIA to adopt a vigilance plan that would match the obligations set out by France’s Corporate Duty of Vigilance law, which triggered a process for mediation...