On April 23, the Gaidar Institute held its first public lecture “Is Personal Data More Valuable Than Oil?” at the “Library on Gazetny” to kick start a new series of events. The event focused on issues related to personal data, ranging from the history of relevant legislation to the current role of data as fuel for the digital economy.
Polina Polad-Zade, advisor on humanitarian policy at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), participated in the lecture as a guest speaker. Based on the expert’s presentation, the organization prepared an article “Not Numbers, but Lives: How Humanitarian Work Reimagines Data”, in which it shared the organization’s experience and approaches to working with personal data.
The article explains why for the International Committee of the Red Cross protection of personal data is not merely a legal norm but an integral part of its humanitarian mission, where an error or data breach could cost a person their life. The article describes the ICRC’s approaches to handling sensitive data, including its own regulatory framework, oversight system, and independent data protection commission, as well as the challenges the organization faces in armed conflict situations.