A/HRC/32/35 essential to ensuring that solutions for them are appropriate, informed, acceptable to communities and sustainable. 83. Significantly, reliable and comprehensive data on internally displaced persons is frequently lacking, hampering the ability of Governments and national and international partners to respond effectively and put in place immediate and longer-term support to meet their protection and assistance needs and durable solutions for them. Compiling and tracking data on internally displaced persons is challenging, particularly in complex situations in which displacement may be ongoing, or where they experience multiple displacement or are residing outside of camps. Improvements to these types of data and analysis must be made by Governments with the support of national and international partners. 84. Consultation, participation and information provision activities must engage widely with internally displaced persons, including women and female heads of households, young people, older persons and persons with disabilities. In-depth assessments, profiling and consultations help to reveal vulnerabilities, capacities and obstacles, essential to providing appropriate responses and durable solutions. Gathering data on those outside of camps has also proven extremely difficult, and there is a need to find creative solutions to ensure that they do not fall through protection and support nets. The Special Rapporteur’s report on the issue to the Human Rights Council in 2012 notably focuses on addressing the causes of neglect of internally displaced persons outside camps through data collection.25 85. Recognition of internally displaced persons as holders of civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights is crucial. A human rights-based approach to internal displacement and humanitarian and development assistance to such persons requires assessments of their human rights on the basis of information that goes beyond basic displacement statistics and recognizes the unique circumstances, challenges and requirements of each individual, including women, older persons, persons with disabilities, minorities and others. It also requires a deeper level of engagement and consultation with internally displaced persons, allowing a more detailed understanding of needs, concerns and intentions and demonstrating respect for the human agency of those persons, as partners in a process of achieving solutions, rather than passive beneficiaries. 86. Sophisticated data gathering methodologies can and are being utilized in some displacement situations. However, they remain the exception rather than the standard. Detailed household surveys and profiling and assessment activities reveal vital information that can be used by a variety of actors in the design, implementation and monitoring of programmes. They may reveal perceptions relating to protection, for example, for those who have faced violence or are at risk of it, and can identify intentions to return or seek alternative solutions. Such data and surveys must be voluntary and meet international standards relating to data protection and personal security. In that regard, efforts are being led by the Danish Refugee Council and UNHCR to better define the discipline of protection information management and support operational decision-making. 87. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the work of the Joint IDP Profiling Service, an inter-agency project set up to help Governments, humanitarian and development agencies acquire, maintain and update reliable data and analysis on internal displacement situations, including population data, that is also disaggregated by sex, age, location and diversity. The Service recognizes that internally displaced persons are not a homogenous group and that appropriate, well-informed solutions must be based on a more complete picture of their characteristics and situations. 25 20 See A/HRC/19/54, paras. 26 and 27.