Global Migration Data Analysis Centre
In response to growing calls for better data on migration, and better use and presentation of migration data, the International Organization for Migration has created a Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC). As a global hub for data and statistics on migration, GMDAC aims to conduct and coordinate research and data projects. Located in the heart of Berlin, Germany, the centre is well-positioned to provide authoritative and timely analysis of data on global migration issues.
One of the Centre’s projects, The Missing Migrants Project, tracks deaths of migrants and those who have gone missing along migratory routes across the globe. The research behind the project began following two shipwrecks off the coast of Lampedusa in October 2013, in which nearly 400 migrants lost their lives. Since then, the Missing Migrants Project has developed into an important hub of data and information, which is used widely by media, policy-makers, and researchers. The Missing Migrants Project hosts the only existing global database on migrant deaths.
Over 5,400 migrants around the world lost their lives while migrating in 2015. 3,770 of these deaths occurred in the Mediterranean, which has seen a devastating spike in deaths in the past two years. The Missing Migrants Project collaborates with various government and non-government entities to collect data, and also draws on media and other available sources of information.
The outcomes of the Missing Migrant Project include:
- The Missing Migrants online database and website with data and information on missing and dead migrants around the world
- Regular infographics, policy briefs and an annual report on migrant deaths
- Expert seminars on issues of concern, including on identification and tracing of dead and missing migrants
- Network-building to collect better quality data and to advocate for better management of the dead, improved identification of the dead, and support to families of the missing.
KJ