UN food agency under fire over Palantir contract amid Gaza crisis
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is facing mounting calls to end its contract with US tech company Palantir, which is used by militaries and border police to sort data and identify targets. The agency, which feeds over a million people in Gaza each month, prolonged its agreement with Palantir in July. Civil organisations urged an end to the partnership in a letter published on Friday 23 October, and around 3,000 European citizens wrote to WFP leadership demanding the same.
The WFP holds one of the biggest biometric databases in the world, containing millions of records on vulnerable populations. Critics argue the agency is effectively supporting a company that undermines its own operations in Palestine by helping kill civilians for another client. “On one hand, you’re feeding people of Gaza, but then, on the other hand, you’re using software that is being used also to kill [them],” said Giulio Carini, head of campaigns at WeMove Europe, calling it “a very strong contradiction.”
Up to 1.1 million people are reached by WFP in Gaza each month, out of 1.4 million facing acute food insecurity. The agency said it had to scale down food assistance in Gaza and the West Bank due to lack of funding. However, WFP argues that Palantir software for datasets and decisions saved $50 million [€45 million] otherwise spent on inefficient resource management.
