At the heart of the problem is the UN agencies' and NGOs' struggle to agree on whether Rwandans relocated into new villages should be considered permanently resettled or still displaced. Over the last decade, Rwandans experienced repeated waves of displacement,…
A success story, in which the wishes of internally displaced people themselves prevailed, said some observers. Not so, insisted others, pointing to numerous flaws and problems along the way. So was the resettlement process really the final chapter in Sierra…
Before Sri Lanka's twenty-year-old civil war ground to a halt following the February 2002 ceasefire between the government and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), approximately 70,000 people were killed, over 750,000 were internally displaced and another 700,000…
The government's plan contained no details on how this was going to be accomplished other than providing three options for IDPs: i) returning them to their place of origin, ii) empowering them in their current location (i.e. integration) or iii)…
After gaining independence following the Soviet Union's dissolution, the southern Caucasus republics of Azerbaijan and Georgia saw a difficult period of transition characterised by internal and external inter-ethnic conflicts(1) that forced more than 1.44 million people to abandon their homes.(2)…
This article asks: if contingency planning is both standard practice and an intrinsic duty of humanitarian agencies, what were the sources of tension over preparing for an Iraqi crisis and what are the implications for any effective response? Participation in…
Women from Burma who live in the camps along the Thai-Burma border are increasingly coming into contact with the concept and practice of women's human rights. For many women, learning about rights is a significant part in the process of…
The focus of this debate has been the 'minimum standards' of the Sphere project but that debate is now expanding to one on 'quality assurance' of relief/humanitarian action(1). One of the questions being asked is whether the Sphere standards are…
As such, it covers a cultural transitional area with the population divided between Arab-Berbers to the north and black Africans to the south. Mauritania is one of the least developed nations in the world. Legal and social infrastructure remains rudimentary.…
The decision to go to war in Iraq has challenged the most fundamental principles of the current international system. Since the end of WWII, states have agreed to prohibit the use of force in their international relations. Two exceptions are…