Millions of children have migrated across borders or been forcibly displaced. As of 2017, about 30 million were living in forced displacement – 1 in 76 of the world’s children. This includes 12 million child refugees and child asylum seekers, and 17 million children living in internal displacement due to conflict and violence. These numbers do not include 6 million children internally displaced by natural disasters. For many uprooted children, the journey from home can be profoundly lonely and plagued by challenges that put their health, education and futures at risk.
Reliable, disaggregated, timely and accessible data are essential for identifying and addressing the needs of these children and for delivering on the goals, targets and commitments of the Global Compact for Migration (GCM) and Global Compact for Refugees (GCR) processes, and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. At present, however, the evidence base remains underdeveloped and fragmentary. This is particularly the case when it comes to determining the needs of migrant and displaced children, who – as a vulnerable group – are entitled to special protections.
Following up on their joint Call to Action for better Data, the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) are convening an Expert Workshop to engage in a concerted and cooperative global approach to meeting and sharing the minimum data required for understanding the needs and ensuring the protection of migrant and forcibly displaced children. The workshop seeks to identify data and knowledge gaps, provide insights into which measurements and indicators are needed to strengthen the evidence base, and highlight new methods in data collection and analysis. The organizers invite representatives from civil society organizations (CSOs), national governments, and international organizations, researchers and academics to con-tribute papers for presentation and discussion at the workshop.
Instructions and deadlines:
Papers will be reviewed by a UNICEF-IOM committee and selected applicants will be invited to participate in the workshop and present their work. The following deadlines and requirements apply: Paper submissions should be between 4,000 and 6,000 words in English (including charts, annexes and references). Recently published work may be submitted. Please submit papers including an abstract to migrationdata@unicef.org by the 6th of February 2019. If you have any questions, please contact migrationdata@unicef.org or gmdac@iom.int.
