UN Report: Digital IDs and Vaccine Passports Set to Expand to Animals

Humans, animals & commodities alike are all to be digitally tagged, tracked-and-traced equally: perspective The same digital identity and vaccine passport systems deployed by governments and corporations on human populations during lockdowns are now expanding to include pets and livestock, according to the latest UN AI for Good report. report Whether the track-and-trace tech is for humans or animals, the verbiage is almost verbatim. Last week, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), which is the United Nations agency for digital technologies, published a massive 866-page “UN AI for Good Innovate for Impact Interim Report 2025,” detailing numerous AI applications in development, along with current use cases. UN AI for Good Innovate for Impact Interim Report 2025 On page 33, we find “Use Case 5: AI-Driven Biometric Animal Registration for Animal Welfare and Global Health,” which takes all the track-and-trace technologies used on people under the guise of “slowing the spread” of COVID-19 and transfers that over to animals, so we get things like digital pet IDs, digital horse passports, and digital vaccine records for all creatures great and small. Use Case 5: AI-Driven Biometric Animal Registration for Animal Welfare and Global Health “The system must enable digital storage and retrieval of comprehensive animal metadata, including identification details, vaccination history, and health information” United Nations, AI for Good Innovate for Impact Interim Report, July 2025 “The system must enable digital storage and retrieval of comprehensive animal metadata, including identification details, vaccination history, and health information” “The system must enable digital storage and retrieval of comprehensive animal metadata, including identification details, vaccination history, and health information” “The system must enable digital storage and retrieval of comprehensive animal metadata, including identification details, vaccination history, and health information” United Nations, AI for Good Innovate for Impact Interim Report, July 2025 AI for Good Innovate for Impact Interim Report “Physical identifiers like tags or microchips are vulnerable to tampering or misuse, leading to animal identity fraud, where one animal is intentionally or mistakenly presented as another. This undermines the integrity of registration, traceability, and disease control systems“ United Nations, AI for Good Innovate for Impact Interim Report, July 2025 “Physical identifiers like tags or microchips are vulnerable to tampering or misuse, leading to animal identity fraud, where one animal is intentionally or mistakenly presented as another. This undermines the integrity of registration, traceability, and disease control systems“ “Physical identifiers like tags or microchips are vulnerable to tampering or misuse, leading to animal identity fraud, where one animal is intentionally or mistakenly presented as another. This undermines the integrity of registration, traceability, and disease control systems“ “Physical identifiers like tags or microchips are vulnerable to tampering or misuse, leading to animal identity fraud, where one animal is intentionally or mistakenly presented as another. This undermines the integrity of registration, traceability, and disease control systems“ United Nations, AI for Good Innovate for Impact Interim Report, July 2025 AI for Good Innovate for Impact Interim Report The UN report highlights the work of South Korean Company iSciLab, which aims to address the following problem: iSciLab “Traditional animal registration using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) microchips is invasive, costly, and impractical in many regions. This limits pet identification, hinders rabies vaccination tracking, and results in poor enforcement of animal welfare policies. Especially in low-income areas, unregistered stray animals contribute to zoonotic disease spread and animal neglect.“ Traditional animal registration using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) microchips is invasive, costly, and impractical in many regions. This limits pet identification, hinders rabies vaccination tracking, and results in poor enforcement of animal welfare policies. Especially in low-income areas, unregistered stray animals contribute to zoonotic disease spread and animal neglect. Traditional animal registration using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) microchips is invasive, costly, and impractical in many regions. This limits pet identification, hinders rabies vaccination tracking, and results in poor enforcement of animal welfare policies. Especially in low-income areas, unregistered stray animals contribute to zoonotic disease spread and animal neglect. Replace “pets” and “animals” with “humans” and “people” and switch “rabies” for “COVID” and you’ve got the same track-and-trace scheme we experienced during lockdowns. pets animals humans people rabies COVID “Traditional animal registration using RFID microchips is invasive, costly, and prone to issues such as chip migration, incompatibility, or failure. These barriers hinder widespread adoption, especially in low-resource settings, resulting in unregistered animals and poor vaccination tracking—an acute public health risk, particularly for stray animals in regions like Africa.” Traditional animal registration using RFID microchips is invasive, costly, and prone to issues such as chip migration, incompatibility, or failure. These barriers hinder widespread adoption, especially in low-resource settings, resulting in unregistered animals and poor vaccination tracking—an acute public health risk, particularly for stray animals in regions like Africa Traditional animal registration using RFID microchips is invasive, costly, and prone to issues such as chip migration, incompatibility, or failure. These barriers hinder widespread adoption, especially in low-resource settings, resulting in unregistered animals and poor vaccination tracking—an acute public health risk, particularly for stray animals in regions like Africa After people and pets, the next step is to implement digital IDs and vaccine passports for cattle and other livestock in our food supply. digital IDs vaccine passports “The system will later be expanded to livestock such as cattle and horses to support broader needs in animal traceability, food safety, and disease management” United Nations, AI for Good Innovate for Impact Interim Report, July 2025 “The system will later be expanded to livestock such as cattle and horses to support broader needs in animal traceability, food safety, and disease management” “The system will later be expanded to livestock such as cattle and horses to support broader needs in animal traceability, food safety, and disease management” “The system will later be expanded to livestock such as cattle and horses to support broader needs in animal traceability, food safety, and disease management” United Nations, AI for Good Innovate for Impact Interim Report, July 2025 AI for Good Innovate for Impact Interim Report “In collaboration with the Korea Racing Authority (KRA), we will also develop a digital equine passport system that integrates biometric identification with health and performance data to benefit the racing and breeding industries” United Nations, AI for Good Innovate for Impact Interim Report, July 2025 “In collaboration with the Korea Racing Authority (KRA), we will also develop a digital equine passport system that integrates biometric identification with health and performance data to benefit the racing and breeding industries” “In collaboration with the Korea Racing Authority (KRA), we will also develop a digital equine passport system that integrates biometric identification with health and performance data to benefit the racing and breeding industries” “In collaboration with the Korea Racing Authority (KRA), we will also develop a digital equine passport system that integrates biometric identification with health and performance data to benefit the racing and breeding industries” United Nations, AI for Good Innovate for Impact Interim Report, July 2025 AI for Good Innovate for Impact Interim Report The agenda to track-and-trace people like cattle and other commodities is well-documented. As World Economic Forum (WEF) founder Klaus Schwab wrote in his book from 2017, “The Fourth Industrial Revolution:” “Any package, pallet or container can now be equipped with a sensor, transmitter or radio frequency identification (RFID) tag that allows a company to track where it is as it moves through the supply chain—how it is performing, how it is being used, and so on.” “Any package, pallet or container can now be equipped with a sensor, transmitter or radio frequency identification (RFID) tag that allows a company to track where it is as it moves through the supply chain—how it is performing, how it is being used, and so on.” Any package, pallet or container can now be equipped with a sensor, transmitter or radio frequency identification (RFID) tag that allows a company to track where it is as it moves through the supply chain—how it is performing, how it is being used, and so on “In the near future, similar monitoring systems will also be applied to the movement and tracking of people.” “In the near future, similar monitoring systems will also be applied to the movement and tracking of people.” In the near future, similar monitoring systems will also be applied to the movement and tracking of people.” Fast forward eight years, and the RFID chips are giving way to facial recognition and other biometric identification methods that can be retrieved using a smartphone. For animals, the latest biometric craze is “nose print imaging” where an animal’s unique nose print acts like a fingerprint. For humans, you can take your pick for biometric identification: fingerprints, iris scans, gait detection, facial recognition, brainwave activity, heart measurements, DNA swabs — they’re all in there. The main point is that humans, animals, and commodities are all to be tagged, surveilled, and traced equally. “End-to-end trade digitalization requires a global approach to digital identities of natural and legal persons as well as of physical and digital objects sending or receiving electronic information to avoid creating digital identity silos” WEF & WTO, The Promise of TradeTech: Policy Approaches to Harness Trade Digitalization, April 2022 “End-to-end trade digitalization requires a global approach to digital identities of natural and legal persons as well as of physical and digital objects sending or receiving electronic information to avoid creating digital identity silos” “End-to-end trade digitalization requires a global approach to digital identities of natural and legal persons as well as of physical and digital objects sending or receiving electronic information to avoid creating digital identity silos” “End-to-end trade digitalization requires a global approach to digital identities of natural and legal persons as well as of physical and digital objects sending or receiving electronic information to avoid creating digital identity silos” WEF & WTO, The Promise of TradeTech: Policy Approaches to Harness Trade Digitalization, April 2022 The Promise of TradeTech: Policy Approaches to Harness Trade Digitalization For another example, in 2022 the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the WEF published a report “encouraging the development of a global certification framework” for digital identity systems of persons and objects — both physical and digital. encouraging the development of a global certification framework encouraging the development of a global certification framework While the report, “The Promise of TradeTech: Policy Approaches to Harness Trade Digitalization,” is concerned with digital identity as it relates to digitalizing global trade systems, the seed has been planted to normalize the idea of treating people like animals and products to be tracked, traced, and monitored for compliance with certain standards. the report The Promise of TradeTech: Policy Approaches to Harness Trade Digitalization Just as sensing technologies can track and trace products through their “life cycles,” the same can be said about tracking humans through their own “life cycles” via biometric data and digital identity schemes. This is true in several countries, more recently in Pakistan and Nigeria. Earlier this year, the Nigerian government published a framework to develop national Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) that will utilize digital ID to track and trace “key life events” of every citizen from the cradle to the grave. cradle to the grave “The Federal Government of Nigeria is on a mission to appropriately deploy digital technology to support Nigerians through these significant and profound moments so they can integrate into the state and enjoy the benefits of citizenhood from cradle to old age” Supporting Life Events: The Nigeria Digital Public Infrastructure Framework, March 2025 “The Federal Government of Nigeria is on a mission to appropriately deploy digital technology to support Nigerians through these significant and profound moments so they can integrate into the state and enjoy the benefits of citizenhood from cradle to old age” “The Federal Government of Nigeria is on a mission to appropriately deploy digital technology to support Nigerians through these significant and profound moments so they can integrate into the state and enjoy the benefits of citizenhood from cradle to old age” “The Federal Government of Nigeria is on a mission to appropriately deploy digital technology to support Nigerians through these significant and profound moments so they can integrate into the state and enjoy the benefits of citizenhood from cradle to old age” Supporting Life Events: The Nigeria Digital Public Infrastructure Framework, March 2025 Supporting Life Events: The Nigeria Digital Public Infrastructure Framework Pakistan is ahead of Nigeria as digital ID has already become a standard feature in every Pakistani’s life. every Pakistani’s life According to a WEF blog post from July, 2024: blog post “At the heart of Pakistan’s digital transformation is the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), established to overhaul the country’s identity systems.” At the heart of Pakistan’s digital transformation is the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), established to overhaul the country’s identity systems At the heart of Pakistan’s digital transformation is the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), established to overhaul the country’s identity systems “This was a foundational change, positioning Pakistan among a select group of nations equipped to manage comprehensive digital identities for over 240 million citizens.” This was a foundational change, positioning Pakistan among a select group of nations equipped to manage comprehensive digital identities for over 240 million citizens This was a foundational change, positioning Pakistan among a select group of nations equipped to manage comprehensive digital identities for over 240 million citizens “The NADRA-issued Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) is now a standard feature in every adult Pakistani’s life, facilitating a range of routine tasks such as opening bank accounts, purchasing airline tickets, acquiring driver’s licenses, and qualifying for social protection, thereby ensuring seamless identity authentication for every citizen” WEF Agenda, “Digital public infrastructure is transforming lives in Pakistan. Here’s how,” July 2024 “The NADRA-issued Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) is now a standard feature in every adult Pakistani’s life, facilitating a range of routine tasks such as opening bank accounts, purchasing airline tickets, acquiring driver’s licenses, and qualifying for social protection, thereby ensuring seamless identity authentication for every citizen” “The NADRA-issued Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) is now a standard feature in every adult Pakistani’s life, facilitating a range of routine tasks such as opening bank accounts, purchasing airline tickets, acquiring driver’s licenses, and qualifying for social protection, thereby ensuring seamless identity authentication for every citizen” The NADRA-issued Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) is now a standard feature in every adult Pakistani’s life, facilitating a range of routine tasks such as opening bank accounts, purchasing airline tickets, acquiring driver’s licenses, and qualifying for social protection, thereby ensuring seamless identity authentication for every citizen WEF Agenda, “Digital public infrastructure is transforming lives in Pakistan. Here’s how,” July 2024 Digital public infrastructure is transforming lives in Pakistan. Here’s how The push to track-and-trace people like animals and products throughout their so-called lifecycles is not just coming from the UN, the WEF, or the WTO, but also the B20 and the G20. B20 and the G20 If we go back a couple of years, the leaders of the 2023 B20 India Summit published their annual communique recommending that the G20 nations: “Promote the digitization of identities at the individual, enterprise, and farm levels that are both interoperable and recognized across borders.” annual communique Promote the digitization of identities at the individual, enterprise, and farm levels that are both interoperable and recognized across borders Promote the digitization of identities at the individual, enterprise, and farm levels that are both interoperable and recognized across borders This digital identity is not just for identity verification, but is also for “governments and private stakeholders” to have access to other types of information about you, including your health records, business dealings, land use, consumption habits, and finances. governments and private stakeholders governments and private stakeholders The latest AI for Good report shows this type of data is now being collected for pets and livestock (minus their business dealings and finances). “G20 nations to develop guidelines for unique single digital identification for MSME [micro, small and medium-sized enterprises] and individuals that can be securely accessed (based on consent) by different government and private stakeholders for identity verification and information access within 3 years” B20 India Communique, August 2023 “G20 nations to develop guidelines for unique single digital identification for MSME [micro, small and medium-sized enterprises] and individuals that can be securely accessed (based on consent) by different government and private stakeholders for identity verification and information access within 3 years” “G20 nations to develop guidelines for unique single digital identification for MSME [micro, small and medium-sized enterprises] and individuals that can be securely accessed (based on consent) by different government and private stakeholders for identity verification and information access within 3 years” “G20 nations to develop guidelines for unique single digital identification for MSME [micro, small and medium-sized enterprises] and individuals that can be securely accessed (based on consent) by different government and private stakeholders for identity verification and information access within 3 years” B20 India Communique, August 2023 B20 India Communique Whether it’s people, pets, or livestock, the end result is the same. Digital ID, vaccine passports, and contact tracing for all. The UN AI for Good report notes that the types of metadata being collected for animals include: Animal biometric images (nose print, facial features) Species/breed/age/ Owner info Vaccination history Animal biometric images (nose print, facial features) Animal biometric images (nose print, facial features) Species/breed/age/ Species/breed/age/ Owner info Owner info Vaccination history Vaccination history All these systems are increasingly becoming interconnected and interoperable. How long until your own digital ID, which includes your vaccination status and carbon footprint tracker, will be tied to that of your pet’s? Tim Hinchliffe, Editor, The Sociable Tim Hinchliffe, Editor, The Sociable Tim Hinchliffe, Editor, The Sociable Tim Hinchliffe