Often, refugees, internally displaced and stateless persons are excluded or not appropriately accounted for in national data collection systems, making them invisible in official statistics.

Statistical inclusion is a deliberate effort to accurately capture forcibly displaced and stateless people in censuses, nationwide household surveys or other relevant data sources to allow for the computation of sound, policy relevant statistics on their socioeconomic conditions that are comparable to those of their host communities.

As such, statistical inclusion is a mechanism to help implement and assess progress towards the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR). It is also key to keeping the central promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to leave no-one behind.

Reliable, comparable and nationally produced data and evidence are critical to enable governments to address the plight of forcibly displaced and stateless people in their policies, operations and development plans.

Quality official statistics, disaggregated across age, gender, diversity, and disability can inform the design of programs and policies to improve the protection and wellbeing of these vulnerable populations.

A pledge is a commitment made by a Government or any other stakeholder to advance the objectives of the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR). Pledges are often formally announced during the Global Refugee Forum (GRF), which is also used to assess the progress made to implement existing pledges. In 2019, more than 1400 pledges were announced.

During GRF in 2023, progress towards the 2019 pledges will be assessed and new pledges announced, in line with the recommendations identified at the 2021 High-Level Officials Meeting.

A multi-stakeholder pledge is:

• Large-scale / ambitious / transformational
• Joint and/or around a common theme
• Multi-year / long-term
• Clearly defined resource base, donorship, or financial instrument
• Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timebound

This pledge encourages governments to include refugees, internally displaced or stateless people in their national statistics by making an official public pledge which will be announced at the Global Refugee Forum at the end of 2023. Equally, pledges by other stakeholders to support the work of national governments in this regard, are also encouraged.

These individual pledges will form a multi-stakeholder pledge entitled “Inclusion of Forcibly Displaced and Stateless Persons in National Statistical Systems and Surveys” that is international recognition of the role of national statistics to further the inclusion and enhance the protection and well-being of vulnerable groups.

Concretely, such pledges can be made individually or jointly by:

• Governments (including their National Statistical Offices)
• Regional and international organizations
• Civil society organizations, refugee groups
• Donors, private sector entities.

You can submit a pledge through the online GRF platform.

There, you can link your pledge to the Inclusion of Forcibly Displaced and Stateless Persons in National Statistical Systems and Surveys multistakeholder pledge or/and to additional pledges. 

For more information about the national statistical inclusion multi-stakeholder pledge, please contact Natalia Baal (EGRISS) at  [email protected] (EGRISS) or Donatien Beguy (JDC) at [email protected] .

For more information about the pledging process or the GRF, please contact UNHCR country/regional representation and/or the GRF Coordination Team at UNHCR HQ in Geneva at [email protected].