A/HRC/38/39 the authorities must act to protect internally displaced persons in accordance with other human rights law and international humanitarian law, as relevant. B. Improving the evidence base and statistical resources 43. Statistics are essential to providing a strong evidence base for action in all internal displacement situations; however too often data is difficult to gather or is neglected. In recent years significant progress has been made in data gathering and analysis of internal displacement, inspired in part by greater recognition of the challenges emerging from the Guiding Principles. This has been seen not only in the quantity of data, but also the quality and range of data that is now collected and analysed. Profiling of internally displaced persons to understand not only their numbers and basic data, but also much more in-depth information about their circumstances, needs and protection issues, and their intentions and wishes, has allowed authorities and others to deliver better responses for internally displaced persons, more in tune with their expectations at all phases of displacement than was previously the case. 44. Challenges to gathering data exist in all displacement situations and particularly where displaced persons are not in camps, where internal displacement is highly dispersed and widespread, or where people are displaced multiple times. Further progress is required to assist national authorities. Among other key partners, the Joint IDP Profiling Service has supported ground-breaking initiatives alongside national authorities and United Nations partners to assist States in their efforts to quantify internal displacement and go beyond numbers to provide detailed profiling that reveals the complex dimensions of the displacement experience. It is helping to strengthen the capacity of national statistical bodies to gather data and encouraging the development and use of essential indicators on internal displacement to monitor progress towards durable solutions and ensure inclusion. 45. Recognizing the need to strengthen official statistics on internal displacement, in 2016 the United Nations Statistical Commission decided to establish an Expert Group on Refugee and Internally Displaced Persons Statistics, comprised of participants drawn from national authorities and statistical organizations as well as other technical experts (see E/CN.3/2018/16). The expert subgroup on internal displacement, led by the Joint IDP Profiling Service with the active participation of the mandate among other stakeholders, produced a technical report outlining a way forward for the development of international standards for official statistics on internally displaced persons, which will make an important contribution and help to inform national authorities and others.9 C. Raising awareness of human rights and the Guiding Principles 46. If the potential and promise of the Guiding Principles are to be fulfilled, it is essential to put them into the hands of the internally displaced to help them to know and claim their rights. They are frequently not aware of their rights and of the obligations of the relevant authorities to assist and protect them. As part of their obligations under international human rights law, national authorities should inform their populations of their rights and that is also true in regard to internally displaced persons. As part of the activities for the twentieth anniversary of the Guiding Principles, the Special Rapporteur urges States and other actors to undertake awareness-raising activities and information campaigns based on them and in the context of the general human rights obligations of the State. 47. The mandate of the Special Rapporteur has made the Guiding Principles available in 49 languages, including minority languages.10 In some cases, radio programmes, theatre and illustrated books have also been developed in order to disseminate them better. The Special Rapporteur encourages national and local actors to translate them into additional languages 9 10 The technical report was adopted by the Statistical Committee at its forty-ninth session in March 2018 and is available from http://bit.ly/2GyycO8. See www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/IDPersons/Pages/Standards.aspx. 11