Environmental processes, including climate change and disasters, combine with other pressures to increase displacement risks for vulnerable communities in Asia and the Pacific. Displacement is occurring as a result of frequent sudden-onset disasters (such as cyclones, floods and non-climatic hazards)…
Twenty years ago, the launch of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement marked a high point in international recognition of the need to prevent internal displacement and to provide protection and assistance to internally displaced persons (IDPs). The Guiding Principles…
International resettlement standards state that developers have a responsibility to improve, or at least restore, the livelihoods and living standards of people who have been resettled because of development projects – yet this is rarely achieved in practice. Where resettled…
As one of the oldest and biggest refugee settlements in Uganda, Nakivale has attracted the interest of international researchers year after year. I am a Congolese refugee and have lived in Nakivale since 2006. A statistician by training, I have…
The experiences of Caritas Centrafrique and its partner the Centre for Development and Emergency Practice (CENDEP) show that national non-governmental organisations (NGOs)[1] have much to contribute to the existing knowledge of the international humanitarian sector. The two organisations co-convened a…
The Summit was an historic event, bringing together representatives from forcibly displaced populations from all over the globe for the first time to discuss, plan and organise on the subject of refugee self-representation. It was convened and organised by representatives…
My name is Iwuoha Chima Iwuoha, and I live in Aba, in Abia State, Nigeria. During the Nigerian civil war of 1967–70, malnutrition was widespread in eastern Nigeria (then known as Biafra) and many children died of kwashiorkor, a severe…
At present, there are 33 national humanitarian child protection coordination groups (formerly known as child protection sub-clusters) in the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) cluster system.[1] These groups set the overall strategic direction for child protection humanitarian responses and can have…
The experience of internal displacement is traumatic, life-changing and frequently life-threatening. Each person displaced has lost access not only to the home that offered shelter but also to security, dignity, cherished possessions, livelihoods, memories and a sense of belonging and…
In her Foreword to this issue of FMR, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, poses the question: Where do we go from here? In the 20 years since they were launched, the Guiding…