Internal Displacement

In June 2024, the UNHCR reported that over 120 million people in the world had been forcibly displaced – most by conflict and violence. Of that number, almost 60% are internally displaced persons (IDPs) – 68.3 million, with an additional 8 million displaced by disasters.

While refugees are protected by the 1951 Refugee Convention and there is a dedicated UN agency (UNHCR) mandated to protect and assist them, IDPs have neither a convention nor a UN agency charged with caring for them. Rather there are important – but non-legally binding – Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and an agreement that UN agencies will collaborate through a cluster system to ensure that the needs of IDPs are addressed.

Given the sheer number of IDPs in the world and their pressing and diverse needs, more attention needs to be devoted to those displaced within the borders of their countries – from preventing displacement from occurring in the first place to supporting them to find solutions.

ISIM has long worked on IDP issues, often in close cooperation with the UN Representative of the Secretary-General on the Human Rights of IDPs (and later the Special Rapporteur) and carrying out research to support the development of important international standards such as the Framework for Durable Solutions for IDPs. ISIM faculty, especially Elizabeth Ferris, have played important advisory roles in shaping global policy on IDPs, including serving as an expert advisor to the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement and a member of the IDP Protection Expert Working Group. ISIM faculty are also working on an initiative called PROGRESS with the International Organization for Migration to measure the extent to which IDPs are moving toward solutions in countries experiencing protracted displacement.

In April 2024, ISIM, together with Refugees International and the support of UNHCR, organized a day-long conference on IDPs which featured the participation of IDPs from several countries as well as the Special Rapporteur on IDPs and experts. The conference explored the relationship between protection and solutions.

• April 2024 IDP conference recording and written summary
• Report of the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement
• UN Secretary-General’s Action Agenda on Internal Displacement