First international forum on migration statistics to kick off

NEW YORK, 03 Jan. - (ANA) - UN DESA, represented by the Statistics Division and the Population Division, OECD and IOM are organizing the first ever International Forum on Migration Statistics on 15 and 16 January 2018, in Paris, France. The event brings together all producers, analysts and users of migration statistics, creating a community of interest centred around migration measurement issues. It is expected that 300 participants will gather for the Forum, which will be supported by partner organizations, including Eurostat, ILO, UNECE, UNHCR, UNODC and the World Bank.

The Forum is organised to review best practices in collecting, compiling and disseminating statistics on international migration to fulfil policy needs and is organised around the following five themes: (i) migration measurement, (ii) innovation and synthesis of data sources, (iii) understanding migration through data, (iv) capacity building, and (v) cooperation and data governance.

The sessions on the last two themes will directly address the gaps and needs for capacity building and international cooperation, which could be extremely useful in considering the future directions of capacity building activities by the international community in the area of statistics.

The Forum will be attended by people from a wide range of disciplines – such as political science, economics, demography, development, geospatial science, sociology, statistics, and information technology – that can contribute to improve global understanding of the migration phenomenon.

The Forum directly contributes to enhance national capacities for improving the availability and quality data on international migration. It aims at providing statisticians and migration data experts with advanced knowledge and understanding of global and regional policy needs for migration statistics through speeches delivered by eminent persons who leads the discussion on migration at the global level. The Forum will also enhance the exchange of information, promote mutual learning and facilitate cooperation among data experts and other stakeholders.  - (ANA) -

AB/ANA/03 January 2018 - - -