Improving the U.S. Response to Internal Displacement

As the single largest donor of humanitarian aid, the United States’ response is critical to determining how effectively internally displaced persons (IDPs), refugees and other affected populations are dealt with in humanitarian crises. Although the United States has taken important steps over the past decade to integrate the needs of IDPs into its policies and programs, there remain significant ways to improve its response.

On June 30, the Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement hosted a discussion on how the United States can improve its response to internal displacement around the world. The event featured a presentation of a new policy paper, “Improving the U.S. Response to Internal Displacement,” by authors Roberta Cohen, nonresident senior fellow at The Brookings Institution and Dawn Calabia, senior advisor at Refugees International. Following their remarks, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kelly T. Clements, USAID’s Susan Reichle, Refugee International’s Joel Charny, and the German Marshall Fund’s James Kunder responded with their comments. Senior Fellow Elizabeth Ferris, co-director of the Brookings-Bern Project, provided introductory remarks and moderated a discussion.

After the program, panelists took audience questions.