Enhancing State-to-State Dialogue on Internal Displacement: Current Global Fora and Future Prospects

Abstract

This article explores the potential for global platforms to facilitate State-to-State dialogue on internal displacement. It is in this respect concerned with both the usage and performance of existing platforms to date, as well as prospects for the future. It firstly examines the extent to which pertinent political fora concerned with human rights function as appropriate platforms. Secondly, given the close relationship between internal displacement and refugee issues, it explores the scope of existing refugee fora as sites or models for the discussion of internal displacement. Finally, it assesses the prospects for a dedicated global forum on internal displacement, based on incipient processes that currently exist to facilitate peer-to-peer dialogue and exchange among States on IDP issues. It argues that the design and/or mandate of established global fora mean they offer limited prospects for effective State-to-State dialogue on IDP issues. The article concludes by issuing an urgent call to institute a truly global inter-State forum with the explicit purpose of addressing internal displacement, which is without doubt one of the most pressing and seemingly intractable issues of our time.