Terms and Conditions - UNHCR Dominican Republic

UNHCR Dominican Republic WhatsApp Service

Privacy Notice

Please read the Privacy Notice and General Terms and Conditions governing your access as a user to the UNHCR Dominican Republic WhatsApp Service. By messaging the service, you are confirming that you understand and agree to these terms and conditions. Upon first interaction with the service, you will expressly be asked to accept these terms and conditions and by confirming your acceptance when prompted through the WhatsApp interface, you will enter into a legally binding agreement with UNHCR.

Privacy Notice

Who we are

UNHCR is the United Nations Refugee Agency that provides protection and assistance to refugees, asylum-seekers, stateless and internally displaced people.

UNHCR collects and uses personal data pursuant to the UNHCR General Policy on Data Protection and Privacy (2022) and Policy on the Protection of Personal Data of Persons of Concern to UNHCR (2015).

This privacy notice will explain how our organization uses the personal data we collect from you when you use our self-service platform (“UNHCR Dominican Republic WhatsApp Service”) and your rights relating to our use of your personal data.

How and why we collect data when delivering UNHCR Dominican Republic WhatsApp Service

When you interact with the UNHCR Dominican Republic WhatsApp Service, UNHCR processes some personal data based on its mandate, which is needed for the application to work and to be able to reply to your messages and questions.

Your data will be processed by UNHCR and the companies Twilio and Ciptex, technology partners contracted by UNHCR, which support the management of this service through the Twilio Flex platform. The messages will be stored securely with UNHCR and may be viewable by Ciptex, the company which provides IT support and maintenance for the platform.

We will process the following personal data when providing you the service:

Phone number
Profile name
Message content

We will use this data to follow up directly with you about your questions. Your contact details will be shared with relevant service providers or other teams within UNHCR, when needed, to ensure the most adequate response, and to provide you with relevant and timely information and support services as requested by you through the UNHCR Dominican Republic WhatsApp Service.

The following personal data will need to be shared with or processed by UNHCR’s technology partners, which is essential for effectively delivering the service through their platform, routing messages from users to UNHCR and back, and facilitating the automation of message delivery based on the content of messages received.

What data	How is your data collected	Who is it shared with
Phone number	automatically captured from the user’s profile	WhatsApp, Twilio, UNHCR, Ciptex
Profile name	automatically captured from the user’s profile	WhatsApp, Twilio, UNHCR, Ciptex
Metadata about your connection (IMEI, MAC address, IP address)	this will be automatically recorded from the user’s mobile and connection being used	WhatsApp, Twilio
Message content	the specific information sent by the user, including photos, videos and audio files	UNHCR, Ciptex

Your personal data will not be used for commercial purposes or other purposes that are incompatible with the specific purposes mentioned above.

As the channel of WhatsApp is used for the service, WhatsApp will also capture certain data, depending on your specific account and device settings for the WhatsApp application, in accordance with its Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. However, this is not in any way linked to the UNHCR Dominican Republic WhatsApp Service.

Your data will be stored for a maximum period of 365 days since your last engagement with the service, after which it will be deleted.

There is no automated decision making involved when you use the service.

Confidentiality

UNHCR and its technology partners Twilio and Ciptex will keep your personal data safe and confidential, including through WhatsApp’s encryption and secure storage in UNHCR private cloud hosting.

For the service to work, your data will be sent to WhatsApp and processed through Twilio when you interact with the service, but they will not see the message content. The content will be seen by the specific UNHCR staff to respond to your questions or make sure automatic answers are working. UNHCR’s support and maintenance service provider, Ciptex, may also have access to your content in order to provide and maintain the WhatsApp Service, but this will be done on behalf and under supervision of UNHCR.

Under no circumstances will we share your personal data with the government in your home country or any third party other than our technology partners.

If it is necessary to share your data with partners of UNHCR to follow up on your question or case, you will be informed and will be given the chance to opt out.

Processing data to prevent harm, report on missing persons or comply with international law

UNHCR may preserve your information and share it with third parties if the organization has a good faith belief that doing so is necessary to prevent death or immediate bodily harm to you and others, help locate refugees or other forcibly displaced who have been reported missing or prevent violations of international law. If we do so, we will do it in compliance with our personal data protection and privacy framework.

What are your rights and how can you exercise them?

You have the following rights relating to our use of your personal data:

Access – You can access your personal data by asking about the personal data we process about you by emailing us at [email protected]

Correction – If you notice that your personal data is inaccurate or incomplete you can ask for its correction by emailing us at [email protected]

Objection and Deletion – To stop receiving messages from the service, simply message the word “UNSUBSCRIBE” to the service. To opt-out and request to delete your data from the platform, including all messages exchanged with UNHCR, send the word “UNSUBSCRIBE”. It may take us up to 10 days to process this request and delete your data but we will try to do this as soon as possible.

6. Raising Concerns

UNHCR is committed to working with you to obtain a fair resolution of concerns arising from the use of the service including concerns about privacy. If you believe that we have not been able to assist with your concern through the communication channel set out in Section 5 above, or if you have any other complaint, comment or concern, you have the right to submit a complaint under our internal complaint mechanism. To find information on this mechanism, please visit https://help.unhcr.org/dominicanrepublic/

7. Notification of Changes

UNHCR reserves the right to change this Privacy Notice at any time. Whenever changes are made, you will be notified and will need to agree to the new terms in order to continue using the service.

UNHCR Dominican Republic WhatsApp Service

General Terms and Conditions

Use of the UNHCR Dominican Republic WhatsApp Service

When using the UNHCR Dominican Republic WhatsApp service you agree to the following terms, supplementary to WhatsApp’s applicable Terms of Service.

Do not misrepresent your relationship to another user.
Do not share any personal data about yourself or others unless specifically requested.
Where information is requested of you by chat operators to see what services are available for you, and you choose to share this information, please make sure information is as accurate as possible.
Do not use any obscene, discriminatory or abusive language with the chat operators.
You cannot sell any of the information you get from the service to other people or charge people for using it with your mobile.
Do not use the application to violate the intellectual property rights of other persons or entities (i.e. the rights affording protection to creative and intellectual effort which include copyright, designs, patents, trademarks, layouts, and confidential information which may be part of your content).

When using the UNHCR Dominican Republic WhatsApp Service, which is powered by the Twilio Flex platform, you will be considered an end user of Twilio. Hence you also agree to comply with the Acceptable Use Policy of Twilio, including the following rules:

Do not use the Service to transmit or store any content that is illegal, harmful, unwanted, inappropriate, or objectionable.

Share content that is false and/or inaccurate; is hateful or encourages hatred or violence against individuals or groups; or could endanger public safety.

Do not use the Service to engage in or encourage any activity that is illegal, deceptive, harmful, a violation of others’ rights, or harmful to Twilio’s business operations or reputation.

Not allowing access

UNHCR can decide at its sole discretion, to (a) not respond to users of the service and suspend access to the service if they are abusive or do not follow the applicable rules set out above, and/or (b) not allow access to the service for users if this will put any individuals at risk.

Disclaimer

UNHCR aims to ensure that the content provided via the UNHCR Dominican Republic WhatsApp Service is as accurate as possible but information changes regularly and as such there may be a slight delay in updating information within the service. It is also not in a position to provide information relevant to a different country other than the stated country of operation.

While UNHCR cannot guarantee that there are no errors in the information provided, it does endeavour to correct errors that are drawn to its attention. The content in the application is provided on an “as is” basis, without warranty of any kind. UNHCR specifically does not make any warranties as to the appropriateness, quality, timeliness, accuracy or completeness of the information and service offered through the application.

In providing this service, UNHCR does not endorse WhatsApp or any other messaging applications from other providers. Use of the service does not mean that the user is guaranteed access to any specific information or services.

The use of particular designations of countries or territories does not imply any judgment by UNHCR as to the legal status of such countries or territories, of their authorities and institutions or of the delimitation of their boundaries.

Information outside of UNHCR

The service may point you in the direction of information from service providers or actors outside UNHCR, including any content providers, third parties providing information in the application, any user of the application or any other person or entity. Moreover, other actors may provide information about UNHCR. UNHCR does not control information given by outside actors. This means UNHCR cannot say if such outside information is accurate and the organisation cannot be held responsible for the information or any results, including loss or damage, following from it. UNHCR does not provide any warranties and specifically disclaims any liability of any nature for any loss or damage caused in connection with the use of any such services.

Security measures

UNHCR will take appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure your data is kept safe and cannot be sent to or used by unauthorised actors, but it cannot guarantee complete security given the inherent security risk present with application of digital tools.

Using WhatsApp also means that certain data and usage is captured by Meta, which owns WhatsApp regardless of the use of this service. UNHCR cannot be responsible for any problems or other use of your data by other service providers, or other risks arising from using third-party mobile applications.

Changes to the WhatsApp Service

UNHCR will regularly review how the service is working and make changes to improve it if possible. By using the service, you give UNHCR permission to review conversations and engagement with individuals anonymously to see what changes or improvements are needed. If any changes are made that will impact you, your personal data or anything within these terms, UNHCR will inform you about these changes. UNHCR may have to change the service based on the resources it has or changes to the situation without having to give you notice first but will notify you of changes afterwards.

Contact

If you have any questions or concerns about the service or these terms, please email [email protected]

Intellectual property

All intellectual property rights relating to UNHCR-owned materials provided through the application shall remain vested in UNHCR, unless otherwise stated. Extracts of the materials and other information provided in the application may be viewed, downloaded, and printed for personal, non-commercial use only, without any right to sell, resell, or create derivative works therefrom.

Any use other than for personal purposes, including reproduction or translation of substantial portions of UNHCR-owned materials requires the express prior written permission of UNHCR.

In addition, UNHCR reserves the right to seek all remedies available by law for any violation of these terms and conditions, including any violation of UNHCR’s rights in UNHCR name and emblem and its rights in connection with the information, artwork, text, video, audio, or pictures made available through the application.

UNHCR name and emblem

UNHCR name and emblem are the exclusive property of UNHCR. They are protected under international law. Unauthorized use is prohibited. They may not be copied or reproduced in any way without the prior written permission of UNHCR.

Notification of changes

The content of the UNHCR Dominican Republic WhatsApp information service is selected on the basis of UNHCR’s own criteria and in its own sole discretion at any time and may change without notice. UNHCR reserves the right at any time to change or discontinue any aspect or feature of the UNHCR Dominican Republic WhatsApp information service, including but not limited to these terms and conditions and availability.

Special status of UNHCR

UNHCR holds a special status as a UN organisation and as such receives some additional safeguards relating to the independence and neutrality of its activities, including the UNHCR Dominican Republic WhatsApp information service. As such, nothing in or relating to this notice or the UNHCR Dominican Republic WhatsApp information service shall be deemed a waiver of any of the privileges and immunities of UNHCR as an integral part of the United Nations in conformity with the applicable national and international legal instruments.

Raising concerns

UNHCR is committed to working with you to obtain a fair resolution of concerns arising from the use of the service. If you believe that we have not been able to assist with your concern through the communication channel set out in Section 7 above, or if you have any other concern or complaint, you have the right to submit it through our internal complaint mechanism. To find information on this mechanism, please visit https://help.unhcr.org/dominicanrepublic/

Stopping the service

UNHCR can change or stop this WhatsApp information service at any time without having to give notification. UNHCR cannot be responsible for any negative impacts or other results for these changes or stopping of the service.