The recent signing of a peace agreement between the government of Colombia and the country’s largest guerrilla group, FARC[1], fired hopes of finally achieving a stable and lasting peace. However, the actions of other armed groups pose a serious threat…
In 2004, Brazil marked the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Cartagena Declaration by proposing a regional resettlement programme. The Cartagena Declaration of 1984 had encouraged the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean to make greater provision for…
The effects of climate change influence the frequency and intensity of disasters and slow-onset environmental degradation processes, exacerbating pre-existing risks and vulnerabilities.[1] Between 2000 and the middle of 2015 an estimated eight million people were displaced or evacuated in the…
Uruguay was the first Latin American country since the start of the Syrian war to resettle Syrian refugees from Lebanon. However, what was designed in 2014 as a gesture of solidarity by a sympathetic, pioneering country has become an uncomfortable…
The Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF), one of two annexes to the 2016 New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants (New York Declaration), outlines a comprehensive response to large-scale movements of refugees, based on a collective approach engaging different actors…
Myanmar’s estimated one million Rohingya, a Muslim minority group from Rakhine State, are not recognised by the Government of Myanmar as one of the country’s 135 ethnic groups, have no legal documentation and are therefore stateless. With large-scale violence against…
With its extensive network of religious orders, local and diocesan organisations, and research institutes, the Catholic Church is one of the principal institutions engaged in accompaniment efforts in the Northern Triangle of Central America[1]. For example, local Catholic leaders have…
Relative to their population size, five of the 20 countries most affected by disaster displacement are Small Island Developing States (SIDS).[1] Today a person living in one of these States is three times more likely to be displaced by a…
The number of unaccompanied minors from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras attempting to cross the United States (US) border has increased dramatically in recent years, growing from 2,304 in 2012 to nearly 47,000 in 2016.[1] Many are leaving their homes…
There is general consensus that displacement requires not just a humanitarian response but also a development response. There is less consensus, however, on what a development response actually is, and how it differs from a humanitarian one. The need to…