DATA SOURCES ON PERSONS IN NEED OF INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION Refugees, asylum-seekers, internallly displaced and stateless persons

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DATA SOURCES ON PERSONS IN NEED OF INTERNATIONAL
PROTECTIONRefugees, asylum-seekers, internallly
displaced and stateless persons

• Khassoum DIALLO
• Snr Statistician
• UNHCR
• UNECE-UNFPA workshop on migration statistics,
  Istanbul 6-8 December 2010

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OUTLINE

• CONTEXT MIGRATION ASYLUM NEXUS
• REFUGEES A COMPONENT OF INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION
• UNHCR MANDATE ON REPORTING REFUGEES,
  ASYLUM-SEEKERS AND STATELESS PERSONS
• SCOPE OF FORCED DISPLACEMENT
• DATA SOURCES FOR MEASURING FORCED DISPLACEMENT
• FOCUS ON ADMINSTRATIVE SOURCES
• CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

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CONTEXT

• Migration-asylum nexus UNHCR 10-point plan and
  the MEDSTAT MED-HIMS project
• Cluster approach Need for better data
• Results-Based Management
• Performance monitoring and accountability UNHCR,
  Governments and Donors.
• Advocacy for evidence based decision making.

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UNHCRs protection mandate Basis for statistical
reporting

• Refugees
• 1950 Statute of the Office of the UNHCR
• 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of
  Refugees
• 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees
• States parties shall provide UNHCR with
  statistical information on the number and
  conditions of refugees in their countries . The
  UNHCR shall collect data on refugees and report.
• Stateless persons (refugees non-refugees)
• 1954 Convention relating to the Status of
  Stateless persons
• 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness
• ExCom conclusions
• Collection and reporting of information on
  Statelessness.
• Internally displaced persons (IDPs)
• Request from Security Council/Secretary-General
• UN reform on IDP issues Interagency Cluster
  approach
• Primary responsibility of collecting information
  on IDPs lies with Cluster leads. UNHCR is cluster
  lead for Protection, Camp Coordination and
  Management and Emergency Shelter.

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ARE REFUGEES INTERNATIONAL MIGRANTS?

• YES
• They crossed international border
• Citizen from another country / change of usual
  place of residence
• Duration of stay can be decades in protracted
  situations
• UN Recommendations
• What is specific to refugees vs other migrants
• Legal perspective (1951 convention,
  non-refoulement, rights of refugees)
  international human rights etc.
• Different treatment by asylum states
• Data protection and confidentiality

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SCOPE OF FORCED DISPLACEMENT

• GENERAL MIGRATION 200 million in 2008
• REFUGEE AND ASYLUM SEEKERS 16 million Jan 2009
  (8)
• IDPs (26 million) 980,000 in the region
• Total population of concern in the region 1,3
  million

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Sources of forced migration data

• Administrative sources
• Administrative data are routinely collected
  information as a by-product of the regular
  functions of an agency or institution but not
  necessarily for statistical purposes. In the
  process of its work an organization may record
  and register information related to its laws and
  procedures.
• Examples population registers, work permit
  records, border control data.
• Surveys
• Household surveys (labour force surveys, LSMS,
  MICS)
• Establishment surveys
• Special migrant surveys - UK passenger survey
• Censuses (population stocks)
• Migration stocks
• Refugee stocks
• Stateless persons

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METHODS DATA SOURCES
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METHODS DATA SOURCES IN CIS COUNTRIES
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Major admin sources for migration and asylum data
in the region

• Border statistics (data systems and migration
  cards)
• Population registers (e.g. Moldova)
• Foreigners register (e.g. Russia)
• Permits statistics (work, residence, stateless)
• Registration of forced migration (Government or
  UNHCR registration records) e.g. KAZ, MDA, TKM
• Naturalization statistics

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Admin sources Pros

• Purpose of migration
• Flows
• Routinely collected by potential users
• Great potential for statistical analysis
• Great potential for data sharing
• Great support for evidence based policy
  development and decision making

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Admin sources Cons

• Maintenance
• Updating
• Coverage

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Evaluation criteria for the data

• Accuracy, reliability and validity
• Coverage partial or comprehensive officially
  recorded only. regular and irregular migration
• Timeliness and frequency
• Consistency
• whether definitions, coverage change over time.
• Relevance and usefulness
• Comparability across countries over time
  international standards
• Access and transparency

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Key challenges

• Scope and Definitions
• Asylum migration nexus, national vs international
• Terminology Who is a refugee, a stateless
  person, an IDP?
• Time, location, distance, causes
• Main purpose not for statistics
• Data sources and triangulation processes
• Coverage Key information are missing
• Register updating/deregistration
• Sources for triangulation
• Data collection methodologies and tools
• Lack of coordination between different national
  agencies collecting data
• Data quality
• Timeliness in rapidly changing situations
• Updating, processing and dissemination processes
  not adequate
• Comparability, scope
• Compliance with recommendations (UN, UNECE,
  UNHCR)
• Human resources
• Skills and training Data are collected routinely
  but not processed
• Translation of findings Poor interaction between
  the users and producers of data

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Impact of ignoring displaced persons in figures?

• Displaced persons can be a significant share of
  the de facto population of some countries
• Are often one of most vulnerable group of people
• Millennium Development Goals need to include
  these groups to be achieved
• Refugee camps never appear as official locations
  in country maps and development plans (e.g.
  refugee complex Dadaab in Kenya 4th largest
  pop. center)

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Uses of Statistics

• Advocacy and raising awareness
• Results based management
• Prioritization of interventions based on gap
  assessment and statistical trends
• Finding durable solutions for refugees
• Fundraising
• Meeting special needs of certain groups

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Good practices Country and regional networks

• European / Asian programme on forced displacement
  and migration
• Country level network of data producers and users
• Regional network
• Data exchange platform (core indicators, website,
  focal point system etc.).
• THE MEDSTAT PROJECT

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UNHCR AS A PARTNER

• COMPILATION/COLLECTION OF DATA ON PERSONS OF
  CONCERN (Over 130 countries)
• SUPPORT IN DATA COLLECTION
• REPORTING/DATA DISSEMINATION (Online database,
  Statistical Yearbook etc.)
• Website www.unhcr.org/statistics.html
• Contact Stats_at_unhcr.org

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Thank you