Working toward Durable Solutions to Internal Displacement

Lack of National and International Attention

All too often, governments fail to live up to their responsibility to protect and provide for IDPs. The reasons for this are manifold: in some cases, such as in Syria or Sudan, state actors are actively involved in the dis­placement and have no intention of help­ing those affected. In others, such as in the Democratic Republic of Congo or Somalia, governments lack the capacity and resources to respond effectively. In many cases, how­ever, as in Afghanistan, supporting IDPs – who were often disadvantaged and margin­alised even before they were displaced – is simply not a priority for national decision-makers.

This has led to an increasing number of cases of protracted internal displacement, which account for a large proportion of internal displacement worldwide. Those affected suffer from displacement-related disadvantages, even though their original displacement took place years or decades ago. The lack of durable solutions manifests itself, for example, in the form of limited access to basic services or permanently pre­carious housing. Moreover, internal dis­placement is associated with considerable costs for society as a whole, for example in the form of economic losses and the inten­sification of existing violent conflicts.

At the same time, there is a lack of inter­national attention paid to internal displace­ment because, unlike cross-border displacement, it has no direct impact on other countries. Moreover, many affected gov­ern­ments consider advocacy for the rights of IDPs that goes beyond providing them with humanitarian assistance as an inadmis­sible interference in their internal affairs. Finally, institutional responsibilities for IDPs in the UN system have always been blurred and marked by disputes over mandates between actors; in the humanitarian aid cluster approach, this dynamic is particularly pro­nounced between the International Orga­nization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). This is compounded by the in­adequate involvement of development actors such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the fact that separate support structures often exist for disaster-induced and conflict-induced IDPs. As a result, international engagement remains low, fragmented and unreliable.

How the High-Level Panel Came About

The result of this combination of weak prioritisation, high political sensitivity and fragmented institutional responsibilities is that internal displacement has not been taken into account in key international policy negotiations and processes. While the introduction to the 2016 New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants points to the need for action on this issue, despite being a direct outcome of the Dec­laration, the Global Compact for Refugees only refers to situations of cross-border displacement.

In order to fill this normative and insti­tutional gap, in May 2019 a group of 57 states – including the member states of the European Union as well as a number of countries directly affected by internal dis­place­ment such as Afghanistan, Georgia, Iraq and Nigeria – called on UN Secretary-General António Guterres to set up a High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement. The intent behind this mobilisation was to generate more international attention around the issue and to develop concrete solutions to the worsening global problem of internal displacement. In the end of 2019, Guterres tasked the UNHCR, IOM and the United Nations Office for the Coordina­tion of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) with arranging such a panel. Eight representatives from governments, civil society, the private sector and international organisations were selected, the majority of them from countries directly affected by internal displacement. The Panel began its work in early 2020. The German government was among those to financially and politically support the process.

Focus on Durable Solutions

The Panel’s final report, published in Sep­tember 2021, “Shining a Light on Internal Displacement: A Vision for the Future”, reflects a focus on durable solutions for IDPs and host communities that was included in the Panel’s original mandate and sharpened throughout the course of its work (recommendations 1–7). The report goes into much less detail on prevention and on protection and assistance in hu­manitarian emergencies (recommendations 8 and 9). Finally, it makes proposals for the follow-up of the Panel process (recommen­dation 10).

The focus on durable solutions is rooted in the assessment that the greatest scope for action lies in addressing protracted displace­ment situations. Here, however, real progress is only possible with the agreement of respective governments. The report’s recommendations therefore ex­plicitly refer to country contexts in which state actors show a degree of openness towards constructively working to resolve internal displacement. They also represent a shift from short-term humanitarian assis­tance to longer-term and more devel­op­ment-oriented approaches.

As a starting point, the report recapitulates a series of demands directed at nation­al actors which have long been widely agreed upon among academics and practitioners. As part of a whole-of-government approach, governments concerned should adopt laws and strategies to protect the fundamental rights of IDPs and allocate financial re­sources to solutions at the local and munici­pal level. Furthermore, the Panel advocates the active inclusion of IDPs in peace pro­cesses and the targeted consideration of their needs in national and local development plans as well as in urban planning processes (recommendation 1). The im­ple­men­tation of these goals should be sup­port­ed by systematically involving civil society actors and by promoting private sector en­gagement (recommendations 3 and 4).

Notwithstanding the relevance of these approaches, the added value of the report arguably lies elsewhere: on the one hand, it outlines concrete ways of promoting or mobilising the political will required to realise durable solutions; and on the other hand, it contains proposals for the oper­ation­alisation of the HDP nexus.

Obstacles and Controversies

In view of increasing pressure due to the steadily rising numbers of IDPs, expecta­tions for the Panel were high. The willingness of some governments that are directly affected by internal displacement to engage constructively and work towards durable solutions raised hopes that the process would develop momentum of its own, lead­ing to tangible results and greater national commitment to durable solutions. How­ever, following the publication of the final report, it appears that these expectations will not be fulfilled in the near future. There are three main reasons for this.

Starting Points for German Engagement

Notwithstanding these problems, the panel process is not irrelevant. Its fundamental concern to intensify efforts to find durable solutions is promising and well-suited to garner widespread support. It also matches the recommendations of the German Federal Government’s Commission on the Root Causes of Displacement published in May 2021. Moreover, creating incentive structures and accountability mechanisms for state actors, on the one hand, and better interweaving humanitarian and development-oriented approaches within the UN institutional structure, on the other, are goals many governments can agree on. The specific policy measures derived from this, however, require a strong political con­sensus, which has yet to be worked out. The report should therefore not be read as the end point of a process, but as the basis for further negotiations.

One strength of the panel process was its participatory nature, which was reflected in a large number of substantive submissions from governmental and non-governmental actors. The task now is to maintain this momentum and translate it into a goal-oriented exchange on different options for action at the international level. This re­quires a platform specifically dedicated to the issue – for example in the form of a high-level event on internal displacement that brings together all relevant actors. Apart from this, the new German government should support the process-oriented elements of the Panel’s report – i.e. the continuation of forums at which the gov­ern­ments of states affected by internal displacement exchange experiences; the establishment of a so-called “Coalition of Champions” in which actors from humanitarian aid, development cooperation, peace-building and other relevant sectors jointly develop solution strategies; and finally, the establishment of a contact group of bilat­eral donors, international financial insti­tu­tions and the OECD, which works specifically towards integrating internal displacement into development financing instruments.

In order to achieve lasting solutions, it is crucial to build bridges between humanitar­ian and development-oriented approaches, and to establish shared responsibility for internal displacement among relevant minis­tries. The Federal Foreign Office and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) should there­fore participate in these processes on an equal footing. In a high-level event on internal displacement, the BMZ could con­tribute its experience from the special initia­tive “Tackling the Root Causes of Displacement, (Re-)integrating Refugees”, which already explicitly addresses IDPs. This would also provide an opportunity at the international level to promote the merits of successful approaches and instru­ments such as Transitional Development Assistance and the Civil Peace Service, which have long been applied in displacement contexts. Equally relevant is further substantiation of the peace component of the HDP nexus. In this regard, the BMZ is already making an important contribution through its commitment to durable solu­tions in the context of existing nexus and peace partnerships. These efforts could be further expanded in countries such as Somalia, Iraq and South Sudan.

Ultimately, protracted internal displacement represents a key arena for operational­ising the HDP nexus. The Panel report offers valuable suggestions on how to ad­vance its implementation, for example by formalising the role of UN Resident Coordi­nators in developing durable solutions. The future German government should commit to this – as well as to the development of new financing instruments aimed at chang­ing the incentive structures for governments of countries affected by internal dis­place­ment. Doing so would help to ensure that the creation of durable solutions is prioritised.