International Affairs
The US, the West, and international law in an age of strategic competition
This meeting to take stock of internal displacement was the third in a series of consultations with stakeholders on developments regarding internally displaced persons (IDPs). The first meeting was held in November 2012, at the initiative of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of IDPs, in cooperation with the Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement. A year later, a follow-up meeting with stakeholders was held following the High Commissioner’s Protection Dialogue on IDPs. This third stocktaking meeting was called to provide an opportunity for Special Rapporteur Chaloka Beyani to brief stakeholders on his activities during the past year and to solicit a discussion on the following questions:
- Has the situation of IDPs improved over the course of the past year? Has the international community’s response gotten better?
- What progress has been made on the two joint priorities identified at the November 2012 stocktaking meeting – support for the African Union Convention on the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention) and encouraging durable solutions to displacement, particularly through the engagement of development actors?
Participants also reflected on the future of the IDP mandate. The meeting was chaired by Johan Meyer of the Norwegian Foreign Ministry. Elizabeth Ferris, co-director of the Brookings-LSE Project, welcomed participants and noted that the Project would launch a major new study on ‘how IDPs are faring ten years after humanitarian reform?’ that afternoon. This stocktaking meeting of 35 stakeholders, held under the Chatham House rule, discussed a broad range of issues. The summary report is intended to summarize the key ideas and concerns from the discussion.[1]
[1] The discussion followed Chatham House rules. Accordingly, the ideas expressed in this report are not attributed to particular individuals or institutions. The conveners would like to express their thanks to the government of Switzerland for their assistance in supporting the event, and the volunteer moderators who facilitated the discussion.