Event Date
SPEAKER: Xiao Hui Tai / Post-Doctoral Scholar, UC Berkeley
TITLE: "Mobile Phone Data Reveal the Effects of Violence on Internal Displacement"
ABSTRACT: Nearly 50 million people globally have been internally displaced due to conflict, persecution, and human rights violations. However, the study of internally displaced persons (IDPs) --- and the design of policies to assist them --- is complicated by the fact that IDPs are often under-represented in surveys and official statistics. We develop an approach to measure the impact of violence on internal displacement using anonymized high-frequency mobile phone data. We use this approach to quantify the short- and long-term impact of violence on internal displacement in Afghanistan, a country that has experienced decades of conflict. Our results highlight how displacement depends on the nature of violence. High-casualty events, and violence involving the Islamic State, cause the most displacement. Provincial capitals act as magnets for people fleeing violence in outlying areas. Our work illustrates the potential for non-traditional data sources to facilitate research and policy-making in conflict settings.
This talk will be presented remotely via Zoom.