Displacement Tracking Matrix

The Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) is a system developed by IOM to assess and monitor displacement and population movements. It is designed to collect, process and disseminate information regularly and systematically in order to provide a better understanding of the movements and evolving needs of mobile populations in places of displacement or transit. The DTM has been continuously refined and enhanced through years of operational experience in countries in both conflict and natural disaster settings. It plays an essential role in providing primary data and information on displacement, both in-country and at the global level. It is comprised of four distinct components. 

DTM Europe 

The DTM Europe team operates out of Vienna, Rome, and Geneva to oversee, coordinate and support DTM activities in Spain, Italy, Greece, Malta, Cyprus, Bulgaria, and Western Balkans.1 In 2020 the DTM Europe team in cooperation with IOM missions and national authorities gathered, processed, and disseminated statistical data on new arrivals to Europe, the locations and occupancies of accommodation centres, and transit flows from at least 197 entry, exit and transit flow monitoring points.  The system also includes Flow Monitoring Surveys (FMS), which are individual interviews tailored to capture additional and more in-depth data on people on the move, including age, sex, areas of origin, levels of education, key transit-points on their route, motivations and intentions. This information has been compiled by IOM field staff in Greece, North Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary, Croatia, Italy, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Romania and Bulgaria since October 2015. Analysis is available on the IOM Mediterranean portal. The latest analytical reports and profiles of interviewed migrants as well as data sets are available at migration.iom.int/europe. 

DTM Europe, in coordination with IOM Country Offices in the RO Brussels and RO Vienna regions, took part in a global exercise rolled out by IOM, to track, map and gather data on restrictive measures imposed after to the COVID-19 outbreak through a global Points of Entry (PoE) Baseline Assessment. The outbreak of COVID-19 has affected global and regional mobility in the form of various travel disruptions, restrictions, and blockages. To better understand how COVID-19 affects global mobility, IOM has developed a global mobility database to gather, map ad track data on the imposed restrictive measures impacting human mobility, at Global, Regional and Country level. Subsequently, the IOM has initiated the following Mobility Restriction Mapping including the COVID-19 Country Points of Entry (PoE) Status Baseline Assessment. The PoE Baseline Assessment activities collect updates on mobility restrictions imposed at location level (airport, land border points, blue border points, and internal transit points). For each point of entry, data is collected on type of restriction, measures applied, and population category that might be affected from the imposed measures.   

Since March 2020 when the global Baseline Assessment was rolled out till end of 2020, a total of 850 PoEs were assessed in 19 countries/territories/areas in the RO Vienna region, and 803 additional PoEs were assessed in 30 countries/territories/areas in the extended region. IOM Country Offices cross regions contributed regularly with inputs. The data, and the analysies were  made publicly available monthly throughout the year in the COVID-19 Mobility Tracking Impact Point of Entry Analysis. All published COVID-19 related reports and analysis on the global PoE Baseline Assessment are available for download on the IOM Migration Portal – COVID-19 Mobility Impacts.  

Cooperation with other IOM Departments 

The Flow Monitoring System (FMS) includes a module containing indicators to measure human trafficking and the prevalence of exploitative practices. The indicators were developed by the DTM Global team together with IOM’s Assistance to Vulnerable Migrants (AVM) Unit, and they aim to gather information on events experienced by the respondent directly or by one of his/her family members. Through the use of standardized measures, comparisons across countries, time and different populations, the survey allows IOM to gain a better understanding of the overall vulnerability to abuse, human trafficking and exploitation of migrants in transit towards Europe. 

Inter-agency Cooperation  

The DTM team based in Vienna co-chairs the IOM-UNHCR-UNICEF Regional Information Management Working Group for Europe. The group serves as a platform to discuss and support the coordination of ongoing and planned data collection activities in Europe as well as reporting on migrants´ arrivals via Mediterranean routes to Europe. The Working Group includes other international agencies and NGOs working with migrant population in Europe and meets on a monthly basis in Geneva. In 2017, the three UN agencies developed a joint Interagency Factsheet on Migrant and Refugee Children Arriving to Europe to provide an overview of trends in regards to asylum decisions, relocations, resettlement and segregated data on children who arrived in Europe. Factsheets are published on a quarterly basis and can be accessed here. 

DTM Infographic