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Assisting with Forced Migration

Sanyal says that forced migration is another area where CDR analysis can be used. It provides a solid base for policymakers, local administration, and scientific researchers to study and understand displacement.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHR), the number of displaced people is at its highest rate ever. Migrants often seek asylum in a foreign country to escape civil war or political persecution in their home country. In the period between 2015 and 2016, 2.3 million refugees and asylum seekers arrived in Europe, constituting the biggest ever influx of migrants into the continent since World War II.

Human Migration in Nepal following an Earthquake

Displaced people are the most vulnerable in the aftermath of a disaster or epidemic. Sanyal says that real-time insights on population movement can help to direct relief work more efficiently, and effectively. Following the 2015 Earthquake in Nepal, the data of 12 million NCell subscribers was used to obtain insights on national level population movement. The Insights and maps were made available to humanitarian organizations, helping them to streamline their aid and humanitarian efforts.

Climate Migrants

In 2017, millions of people suffered due to natural disasters caused by climate change. They were displaced by immediate disasters, like hurricanes, and slow-onset disasters, such as droughts and famines. A recent Climate Change Report in the U.S warns of “extreme climatic conditions” in the near future, which will lead to the displacement of masses of people.

This has already been happening in Bangladesh where rising sea levels have eroded acres of fertile coastal farmlands, leading to migration of people from rural to urban areas, and across borders into India. It is estimated that a one three-foot rise in sea level will lead to a displacement of more than 30 million people in the future.

Global organizations like the United Nations well understand the gravity of all these problems. The agenda of migrant’s wellbeing is firmly ensconced in the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

Key challenges 

I asked Amit Sanyal what he believes are the key challenges in the use of CDR analysis.

The individual’s right to privacy is an issue that was raised during the Ebola epidemic. Unlike developed countries, where strong data protection laws exist, the individual’s right to data privacy is less protected in developing countries. Even if the subscriber’s unique number is hidden behind random numbers generated by a hash algorithm, it is easy to unmask a user’s identity. Serious security protocols need to be adopted when working with data, especially data collected from vulnerable populations under threat.