Global Futures Initiative

While these obligations are clearly determined in public international law, the interlinkage with other fields remains under-researched and practical implications are largely missing. Consider the case of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). Although recent crises in Syria, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan have brought internal displacement back into focus, IDPs have frequently lacked an international lobby and are still mainly considered as a humanitarian concern [2].

Internal displacement, however, is clearly more than a humanitarian concern. Since it sharply increases the risk of human rights violations and challenges the development of affected regions, it needs also to be addressed from these perspectives. In 2013 alone, violence and conflict newly displaced more than 8.2 million persons (total: 33.3 million); simultaneously, disasters displace 27.5 million persons every year [3]. Adding to this, development-induced displacement is estimated at 15 million persons a year, or over 200 million in just twenty years [4].

The rising number of IDPs in increasingly protracted situations calls for comprehensive and coordinated responses by a multitude of institutions. However, despite this need for long-term, rights-based and development-focused approaches underpinning humanitarian assistance, the segregation of institutions and mindsets continues. Silos hinder cooperation and dialogue between development agencies, human rights organizations, and humanitarians. Project durations and funding levels, for instance, show that IDPs are still seen as short-term humanitarian issue.

Development-led, rights-based responses to internal displacement are widely missing. Only recently, the UN Secretary General called for more integrated, durable, and coordinated approaches to increase resilience, secure human rights, and build inclusive development in the aftermath of displacement [5]. Action is necessary on both practical and discursive levels. A Brookings-LSE Project urges that IDPs need to be incorporated into national development plans and peace-building strategies through joint planning: The “institutional cultures, policies, and funding parameters” of all relevant actors need to be revisited to bridge the gap between humanitarian, human rights, and development programs [6].

Kofi Annan provides us with a rationale why fusing rights-based, humanitarian, and development approaches is so vital, holding that “the right to development is the measure of the respect of all other human rights” [7]. In the end, development cannot occur without humanitarian assistance and vice versa, and neither can succeed without respect for human rights [8].

Jonas Bergmann is a Fulbright fellow in the MSFS program at Georgetown University. A passionate scholar of International Development, Bergmann is particularly dedicated to Human Rights and Migration.

[1] Consider for instance MDG 3: Promote gender equality and empower women. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights points out how this objective is, amongst others, codified as a right in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Art. 2); CEDAW; ICESCR (Art. 3); ICCPR (Art. 2, 3, 26); CRC (Art. 2); ICMW (Art. 7); and CRPD (Art. 6)
[2] For instance, it was not until the 1990s that internal displacement emerged as a substantial international concern. Thanks to the advocacy of NGOs, a Special Representative of the Secretary-General was nominated, leading to the codification of “UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement” in 1998.
[3] IDMC (2014a): Global overview 2014 - Conflict and violence & IDMC (2014b): Global Estimates 2014 - People displaced by disasters. Geneva.
[4] De, W. C. J. (2006): Development-induced displacement: Problems, policies and people. New York: Berghahn Books.
[5] UN Secretary-General (2011): Framework on Ending Displacement in the Aftermath of Conflict.
[6] Brookings-LSE (2013): Durable Solutions to Internal Displacement: Exploring the Roles of Development, Humanitarian and Peacebuilding Actors.
[7] Annan, Kofi (1997): Statement delivered today by Secretary-General Kofi Annan before the fifty-third session of the Commission on Human Rights. Press Release SG/SM/6201, HR/CN/792.
[8] Annan, Kofi (2005): Secretary-General's Address to the Commission on Human Rights. Geneva, 7 April 2005