Social Equity & Inclusion
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A longform version of the seminar report, which includes the case studies, is available in English, while abridged versions of the report are available in English, French and Spanish.
Most of the world’s 27.5 million internally displaced people (IDPs) live in protracted displacement. Solutions are absent or have failed and IDPs remain disadvantaged and unable to fully enjoy their rights. Governments and the international community, including both humanitarian and development organizations, have tended to favor return over local integration and settlement elsewhere.
In order to draw attention to the challenges and possibilities of achieving a durable solution through local integration, the Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement, IDMC/NRC, UNHCR and UNDP organized a 2-day seminar from January 19-20, 2011, focusing specifically on local integration in protracted internal displacement situations.
The seminar was an important opportunity to review the state of knowledge about local integration, to analyze obstacles and consider best practices in supporting local integration as a solution in cases of protracted internal displacement. The seminar concluded that political will is needed to make local integration a viable possibility for IDPs and that the efforts of both humanitarian and development actors must be mobilized to create conditions for sustainable integration.
The case studies that were presented on protracted displacement and possibilities for local integration offer valuable insights for IDPs, local and national authorities, humanitarian and development actors, NGOs and civil society, and academic researchers. The cases of Burundi, Colombia, Georgia, Serbia, Sudan and Uganda are all unique with particular political, economic and social contexts. There is no single recipe for resolving displacement in these diverse contexts. Rather flexible approaches are needed to explore the possibility of IDPs finding durable solutions through local integration in these and other cases.
