Internal Displacement in Europe

The Brookings-CUNY Project, in collaboration with the Council of Europe’s Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, held a seminar in Geneva, Switzerland to examine internal displacement in Europe, discuss the applicability of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, and consider the steps the Council of Europe could take to reinforce its own programs with regard to the internally displaced. Participants included the members of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography of the Parliamentary Assembly, representatives from international organizations and NGOs, and experts. Following the meeting, seventeen members of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography signed on to a “motion for recommendation” which highlights the vulnerable position of the internally displaced within Europe, calls for the integration of concerns for their protection and the safeguarding of their human rights into the relevant committees of the Council of Europe and invites all member countries to observe the Guiding Principles. If adopted by the Committee, the recommendation will be forwarded to the Parliamentary Assembly and thereafter the Council of Ministers.

See the Statements Presented at the Seminar:

• Internal Displacement: A Global Overview, by Francis Deng
• The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement: Their Reception Internationally, by Simon Bagshaw
• The Role of Regional Organizations in Responding to Internal Displacement and Applying the Guiding Principles, by Roberta Cohen