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WORLD BRIDGE BLOG
Internally Displaced: Not an Afterthought
July 02, 2010 | Briana Orr | Tagged as: Humanitarian Response, About RI
On Wednesday June 30th, the Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement hosted a discussion on how the United States can improve its humanitarian response to crises that leave large numbers of people displaced in their own countries. There are currently 25 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) worldwide who have been uprooted by violence or political persecution.
The Brookings event marked the launch of a new report, “Improving the U.S. Response to Internal Displacement,” by authors Roberta Cohen, nonresident senior fellow at The Brookings Institution and our own Dawn Calabia, senior advisor at Refugees International.
Roberta Cohen framed the problem: “Like refugees, IDPs have special needs and vulnerabilities that separate them from others in the population.” Unlike refugees however, those forcibly uprooted within their own countries lack an established system of international support and protection. As long as they continue to reside within their own country, the protection of IDPs is seen as under the jurisdiction of the state. However, in situations of conflict and internal strife, national governments are often not prepared or willing to care for their displaced citizens.
There is no legal definition for internally displaced people as there is for refugees. In 1998 the United Nations issued The Guiding Principals on Internal Displacement, an attempt to provide a legal framework for IDP protection based on international human rights and humanitarian law. But the Guiding Principles are non-binding and have not been sufficiently incorporated into international practice and national laws. Without the full incorporation of the rights of internally displaced people into U.S. and UN policies, said Roberta Cohen, “IDPs risk becoming an afterthought.”
Dawn Calabia presented some of the report’s recommendations on how to foster better collaboration and a more effective partnership between USAID and the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM). She called for a whole of government approach that would include clearer references to IDPs in U.S. law, better application of existing policies, training and additional specialist staff, and active engagement with NGOs that assist IDPs. “The U.S. has been a leader in humanitarian response,” said Calabia, “we hope that it can also be a leader in humanitarian reform.”
Representatives from both PRM and USAID sat on the panel and echoed the report’s findings, acknowledging further steps that their own organizations could take. Also taking part in the discussion was James Kunder, senior resident fellow at the German Marshall Fund and former deputy administrator at USAID who pushed for greater adherence to and training on the USAID policy on IDPs, adopted in 2004. At Wednesday’s event he spoke of the need for a “diplomatic offensive” to come up with an IDP equivalent of the Refugee Convention, a legal framework that would address the needs of the internally displaced.
Refugees International’s Vice President for Policy, Joel Charny gave concluding remarks, echoing many of the points made by previous speakers and linking them to the increasingly pressing issue of climate displacement. More people then ever are being displaced by natural disasters and depleted resources as a result of climate change. The majority of this displacement is internal and while climate-related displacement often does not compel people to cross international borders, it leaves them vulnerable nonetheless. Internal displacement threatens to become an even bigger issue in the coming years, making an improved humanitarian response all the more urgent.
The Brookings event marked the launch of a new report, “Improving the U.S. Response to Internal Displacement,” by authors Roberta Cohen, nonresident senior fellow at The Brookings Institution and our own Dawn Calabia, senior advisor at Refugees International.
Roberta Cohen framed the problem: “Like refugees, IDPs have special needs and vulnerabilities that separate them from others in the population.” Unlike refugees however, those forcibly uprooted within their own countries lack an established system of international support and protection. As long as they continue to reside within their own country, the protection of IDPs is seen as under the jurisdiction of the state. However, in situations of conflict and internal strife, national governments are often not prepared or willing to care for their displaced citizens.
There is no legal definition for internally displaced people as there is for refugees. In 1998 the United Nations issued The Guiding Principals on Internal Displacement, an attempt to provide a legal framework for IDP protection based on international human rights and humanitarian law. But the Guiding Principles are non-binding and have not been sufficiently incorporated into international practice and national laws. Without the full incorporation of the rights of internally displaced people into U.S. and UN policies, said Roberta Cohen, “IDPs risk becoming an afterthought.”
Dawn Calabia presented some of the report’s recommendations on how to foster better collaboration and a more effective partnership between USAID and the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM). She called for a whole of government approach that would include clearer references to IDPs in U.S. law, better application of existing policies, training and additional specialist staff, and active engagement with NGOs that assist IDPs. “The U.S. has been a leader in humanitarian response,” said Calabia, “we hope that it can also be a leader in humanitarian reform.”
Representatives from both PRM and USAID sat on the panel and echoed the report’s findings, acknowledging further steps that their own organizations could take. Also taking part in the discussion was James Kunder, senior resident fellow at the German Marshall Fund and former deputy administrator at USAID who pushed for greater adherence to and training on the USAID policy on IDPs, adopted in 2004. At Wednesday’s event he spoke of the need for a “diplomatic offensive” to come up with an IDP equivalent of the Refugee Convention, a legal framework that would address the needs of the internally displaced.
Refugees International’s Vice President for Policy, Joel Charny gave concluding remarks, echoing many of the points made by previous speakers and linking them to the increasingly pressing issue of climate displacement. More people then ever are being displaced by natural disasters and depleted resources as a result of climate change. The majority of this displacement is internal and while climate-related displacement often does not compel people to cross international borders, it leaves them vulnerable nonetheless. Internal displacement threatens to become an even bigger issue in the coming years, making an improved humanitarian response all the more urgent.
