How can we develop research problems that are grounded in the perspectives and experiences of people affected by displacement, but whose findings remain relevant to policy? In other words, how do we identify, not only the right solutions, but also…
Is policy-driven research based on unsound and uncritiqued methodology? Could the subsequent policy conclusions which are generated therefore be flawed? The problem of inaccurate and unsubstantiated assertions reflects a key problem in social science research in the humanitarian field, namely…
How has the focus on IDPs come about? What political agenda lies behind the definition and the mode of institutionalising IDP studies? Why has it taken more than 20 years for studies of internal displacement to mirror the trajectory of…
What are the parallels between the development of the international refugee regime and equivalent policies and support structures relating to IDPs? Why is the current IDP regime lightly institutionalised and weak in comparison with the mechanisms and processes dealing with…
Donor pressure led the government to initiate an IDP return programme. Organisers assumed that IDPs would go home and pick up livelihoods as if nothing untoward had happened. The UN Development Programme thought it could implement its mandate to provide…
How can data collection mechanisms be standardised and improved in order to obtain information on IDPs and better meet their needs with appropriate levels of assistance? In 2001 UNICEF’s Division of Policy and Planning launched a pilot project to assess…
The causes of displacement in Angola are multi-complex. War may have been the most prominent cause of flight in recent decades, but IDPs also cite environmental degradation and lack of access to schools, health posts, transport facilities and markets as…
Israel has destroyed, demolished and confiscated housing and land and denied IDPs the right to return to their homes. As Israel becomes more politically unstable, a significant percentage of the country’s Arab minority are threatened with state-sponsored or -tolerated forced…
How can we contribute to discussions about the formation of categories and definitions by deconstructing, questioning and changing their meanings and contents? My work in Sri Lanka looks at the common understandings of the IDP category and how it affects…
Since the General Assembly approved UNHCR’s establishment, it has on several occasions passed resolutions extending UNHCR’s mandate to facilitate assistance for people displaced within the region of their own domicile. When the then UN Secretary-General invited UNHCR in 1991 to…