About

The Expert Group on Refugee, Internally Displaced Persons, and Statelessness Statistics (EGRISS) is a multi-stakeholder group mandated by the UN Statistical Commission to develop international recommendations, standards, and guidance for improved forced displacement and statelessness statistics. Since its establishment in 2016, the expert group has made significant progress supporting countries and regional and international organizations to enhance their collection, production, and dissemination of official statistics on forcibly displaced populations. Based on this success, since 2021, its mandate was extended to include statelessness.

Its first phase of work included the development of International Recommendations on Refugee Statistics (IRRS) and the Technical Report on Statistics of Internally Displaced Persons. Both documents were formally adopted during the 49th session of the UNSC in 2018. Following this, the second phase of EGRISS’ work has produced the International Recommendation on IDP Statistics (IRIS) and an online Compilers’ Manual – a hands-on guide for the implementation of the recommendations on refugee and IDP statistics.

The endorsement of the IRIS and the publication of the Compilers’ Manual introduced the third and current phase of EGRISS’ mandate, which focuses on the implementation of both sets of recommendations – on refugee and IDP statistics. This is being done by strengthening national statistical capacity, providing support, and taking steps to monitor the application of the international statistical recommendations on refugees and IDPs. These activities will enable the identification of best practices, knowledge dissemination, peer-to-peer learning and exchange, and refinement of the recommendations themselves as necessary. The third phase also includes the development of International Recommendations on Statelessness Statistics (IROSS), were successfully endorsed at the 54^th session of the UNSC in 2023.

EGRISS comprises members from 61 national statistics authorities from different regions of the world and 37 regional and international organizations. Openness and inclusivity are critical aspects of the EGRISS methodology, welcoming collaboration with new, relevant partners from the statistical community. Read more about EGRISS’ membership here.

Subgroups

EGRISS activities are undertaken by the broader membership organized into thematic Technical Subgroups (TSG). There are currently two active Subgroups, each one responsible for the implementation and coordination of activities and providing a platform for information sharing and exchange. Read more about EGRISS’ Subgroups here.