Denmark has been selected by The World Bank Group (WBG) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as host country for a new WBG-UNHCR Joint Data Center on Forced Displacement.

The Joint Data Center, which will be located in the UN City in Copenhagen, will strengthen collection, analysis and sharing of data on forcibly displaced persons and host communities. The Center will be established with support from Denmark and other actors.

”I am pleased that Denmark has been selected as host country for the new Joint Data Center. The Center will contribute to a more effective response to major refugee and displacement crises in conflict-affected regions and countries, including support to the return of forcibly displaced people. I am proud that Denmark in its capacity of forerunner on new IT technologies and digitalization can contribute to supporting innovative approaches and solutions which help vulnerable displaced people”, says the Minister for Development Cooperation Ulla Tørnæs.

An improved response to major refugee crises is one of the key priorities of the Global Compact on Refugees which UN Member States are expected to agree on in the autumn of 2018. In this context, solid data on refugees and their host communities are identified as a prerequisite for finding the necessary solutions and creating better livelihoods for displaced people in conflict-affected regions and countries. We need far more evidence on the impact of refugees within their host communities, their socio-economic conditions and how the voluntary and sustainable return of refugees to their countries of origin can be supported in the best possible way. The WBG-UNHCR Joint Data Center is being established to address these challenges and to support the efforts of the international community to strengthen comprehensive humanitarian and development intervention for forcibly displaced people.

The priorities of the Joint Data Center are fully in alignment with priorities defined in Denmark’s Strategy for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Action, The World2030, as well as with the Sustainable Development Goals. Denmark will support the Center with approximately 100 million DKK for four years, subject to parliamentary approval.

For further information, please contact:

Press adviser Marie Dørup Olesen, tel.: +45 33921742