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Presentations
- Presentation -- Laura Kivelä
- Presentation -- Emmanuel Letouzé
This session focuses on improving statistics on internally displaced persons (IDPs), who in many contexts are particularly vulnerable, yet hard to provide statistics on. In 2017 alone, conflicts and disasters displaced an estimated 30 million people within their own countries. Many IDPs end up in protracted situations, unable to overcome challenges resulting from their displacement. Therefore, including them in implementation of the 2030 Agenda is crucial for sustainable and inclusive development. This requires special efforts to improve statistics on these populations, which in turn is challenging for many reasons from operational hurdles in on-going conflict situations to technical issues around identifying IDPs compared to other groups, and further to political barriers that can severely hinder evidence gathering processes.
Through a conversation with expert practitioners who work on producing data on IDPs and others collecting data in similar situations, this session focuses on enhancing available evidence on internal displacement. The session discusses the importance of data on IDPs in order to inform inclusive implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as the various challenges associated with this work. It also highlights some opportunities related to producing quality data on IDPs at national and local levels to use as a basis for joint action and response, including the work of the Expert Group on Refugee and IDP Statistics (EGRIS) mandated by the UN Statistical Commission to strengthen statistics on forced displacement; country experiences using surveys, IDP registration and other data sources for statistics production; and exploratory uses of technology and big data in challenging contexts.
During the session, the speakers will address several issues, including:
- Who is an IDP? And why is data on internal displacement so crucial?
- What kind of data is needed and why is it challenging to get?
- What solutions and innovations are there to improve statistics on IDPs, in particular from the perspective of national statistics producers?
Closing remarks will be given by the Director-General of Eurostat, highlighting the way forward on developing standards and tools on IDP statistics in collaboration with national statistical offices.