The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has joined 163 organizations to call on the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and EU Member States to ensure that the EU Artificial Intelligence Act (EU AI Act) protects the rights of all people including migrants.

This was contained in a draft jointly signed statement by CITAD, 163 global organizations and 29 individuals and was made available to newsmen by the Centre’s Executive Director, Engineer Yunusa Zakari Ya’u in Kano.

“The EU AI Act which was recently amended does not adequately address and prevent the harms stemming from the use of AI in the migration context.

“States and institutions are focused on promoting artificial intelligence (AI) in terms of benefits for wider society, marginalised communities and people on the move particularly migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.

“But the states and institutions have failed to understand that the AI technologies fit into wider systems of over-surveillance, criminalisation, structural discrimination and violence,” the statement reads.

The statement added that solutions include to prohibit unacceptable uses of AI system in the context of migration and ensure that all AI systems used in migration are regulated.