From Responsibility to Response: Assessing National - Brookings

Benchmark 3
Data Collection on Internally
Displaced Persons
Do the national authorities collect data on
the number and conditions of IDPs?
Collecting data on the number, location, condition,
needs and vulnerabilities of IDPs is essential to developing
programs to assist IDPs, to facilitate durable solutions
and to assess the extent of displacement. Data
collection should begin at the moment of displacement
and should continue, as systematically as possible, until
sustainable, durable solutions have been achieved. Data
collection is not identical to registration, but registration
may serve as one source of information among others.
“IDP Profiling serves many purposes. It is a
tool to enhance delivery of humanitarian goods
and humanitarian services. It is a tool that may
help to enhance protection and is an important
element of protection. It is a tool that helps to
enhance prospects for durable solutions. In other
words, profiling—well done—is a tool that can
facilitate comprehensive and holistic approaches
to IDP situations.”
—Walter Kälin, former Special Representative to the Secretary-
General on the Human Rights of IDPs (2004–10), speaking
at the first international conference on IDP profiling, “Needs
beyond Numbers,” hosted by Joint IDP Profiling Service, 23
May 2011, Geneva
The Framework for National Responsibility emphasizes
the importance of collecting data that are disaggregated
by age, gender and other key indicators so that
the specific needs of particular groups of IDPs—such
as women heads of household, unaccompanied minors,
the elderly, persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities
and indigenous persons—are assessed and addressed.
Benchmark 3 Data Collection on Internally Displaced Persons
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Data collection efforts also must encompass all IDPs
whether they have been uprooted by conflict, disaster or
other causes and cover IDPs whether they are in camps
or non-camp settings. Efforts must be made to collect
data and profile the needs of IDPs in all areas of a country,
including any areas controlled by nonstate actors.
Benchmark 3 emphasizes that efforts to collect data
on IDPs must not in any way jeopardize their security,
protection and freedom of movement. The Framework
further notes that while government authorities bear
primary responsibility for compiling information on
IDPs, it often can be valuable to enlist international organizations,
local NGOs and researchers to contribute
to data collection efforts.
The importance of disaggregating data by age, gender
and other key indicators of potential vulnerability has
been increasingly recognized by UN agencies and NGOs
and incorporated into assessment tools, as discussed
below. The interagency Joint IDP Profiling Services—
an interagency service initiated by the Danish Refugee
Council, the International Office for Migration, NRC-
IDMC, OCHA, UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and
UNHCR and currently hosted at UNHCR—serves as a
model of international efforts to improve data collection
on IDP situations; its work on providing disaggregated
data on internally displaced populations is to be lauded
and supported.
In practice, collecting data can be a difficult enterprise,
particularly in the midst of a conflict or when IDPs
are dispersed within a community rather than being
housed in a camp or temporary shelter. Data collection
and monitoring requires acknowledging the occurrence
of displacement, safe and unimpeded access—which
may be difficult or impossible, particularly in conflict
situations particularly—to the displaced as well as considerable
resources and technical expertise. Sometimes,
due to concerns about their security, IDPs may not want
to identify themselves or to be counted as such or draw
attention to themselves by participating in assessments
or registration efforts. Estimating the number and the
needs of IDPs living in non-camp settings, including
urban areas, is especially daunting and complex, and