Dakar - At an era where fake news and hate speech spread as rapidly as breaking news, there is an urgent need for trustworthy and reliable information. A focus on improved data will enable IOM to combat misinformation with solid facts and evidence.

“Collecting data is a very important part of IOM’s work but a significant step is to share it and make it accessible to everyone,” says Damien Jusselme, Regional Information Management Officer for IOM in West and Central Africa.

On Tuesday, 24 March, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) launched the French version of the Global Migration Data Portal through a webinar. The Portal provides among others data on immigration and emigration, development, integration, migration policies around the world as well as on international migration trends.

Frank Laczko, Director of IOM’s Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC), underscored the importance of the Portal, saying “at a time when migration is high on the world agenda, it is essential that everyone has access to reliable facts and information about migration, and that we better understand migration statistics at a global, regional and country level.”

The interactive world map of the Portal features more than 75 indicators from 25 data providers. The Portal also has over 30 thematic pages on key migration topics which provide analysis of the migration data sources and their strengths and limitations. It also features an SDG section on global targets and indicators relevant to migration, country and city profiles based on the Migration Governance Indicators and over 200 tools and resources for practitioners.

“Migration is a cross-cutting phenomenon that concerns each and every one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and most of the 169 goals of the 2030 Agenda,” said Susanne Melde, Senior Analyst with GMDAC. “Since the SDGs are a country-led process, the responsibility to measure progress towards the SDG targets lies with the national governments. The Portal is a tool to strengthen the capacities in migratory data and information to fulfill this responsibility.”

In recent years, the media and the international community have put emphasis on irregular migration to Europe. It is often suggested that the main destination for Africans is Europe, while evidence shows that around 80 per cent to 90 per cent of West African migration takes place within the region.

“This dynamic deserves more attention for people to understand the risks around this intraregional migration and for Member States to take measures to facilitate mobility and protect people on the move. The Migration Data Portal puts the issue in the spotlight”, says Jusselme.

“It's not just numbers, it's people. Despite limitations in data availability, facts have informed our actions in recent years and helped us protect people on the move," Jusselme added.

The Portal aims at helping policymakers, media, and the general public to better understand migration dynamics and contribute to a more informed public debate.

Also in an effort to combat misinformation on migration, IOM has trained over 800 journalists from West and Central Africa on reporting on migration and using migration data to support their stories.

The Migration Data Portal was originally launched in December 2017 and is managed and developed by IOM’s Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC) in Berlin.

The Migration Data Portal is accessible here.

Watch the webinar of the launch here.

For more information, please contact  Stylia Kampani at skampani@iom.int or Florence Kim at fkim@iom.int