Spotlight on Protracted Displacement Situations

Refugees who have been confined to refugee camps for extended periods are referred to as being "warehoused" or trapped in "protracted refugee situations." Millions of refugees' lives and livelihoods have been left hanging in limbo as a result. The challenge of finding a solution has resulted in a flurry of research and publication, and the convening of high-level meetings.

Two edited volumes have been published this month alone on protracted situations. The first is entitled Protracted Refugee Situations: Political, Human Rights and Security Implications, and is edited by Gil Loescher, James Milner, Edward Newman and Gary Troeller, with contributions from both scholars and practitioners. The book "explore(s) the sources, nature and consequences of these situations and the record of the international community’s attempts to find durable solutions." Its findings will be discussed at a UNU panel in New York, November 25th.

Gil Loescher and James Milner are Co-Directors of the PRS Project: Towards Solutions to Protracted Refugee Situations, based at the Refugee Studies Centre in Oxford. Prof. Loescher, Edward Newman and Gary Troeller also took part in a United Nations University project called "The Politics, Human Rights and Security Implications of Protracted Refugee Situations," which resulted in this policy brief.

The second book, Protracted Displacement in Asia: No Place to Call Home, "reviews the situation and results of research and policies that have left refugees as a forgotten group in protracted situations." The editor, Howard Adelman, and several of the contributors have been involved in the research project, A Place to Call Home, which is a joint partnership between the Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice & Governance, Griffith University and AUSTCARE.

The second meeting of the High Commissioner's Dialogue on Protection Challenges will also take up these issues in December, with working groups that focus on such questions as solutions to protracted situations, how to ensure sustainable returns, and providing protection and assistance in protracted situations. A concept paper outlining key discussion points will be available shortly. A diverse collection of UNHCR documents on protracted refugee situations compiled by the Policy Development and Evaluation Section (PDES) is available here.

Finally, an African Union Special Summit of Heads of State and Government on Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons in Africa will convene in April 2009 to address "the challenge of forced displacement in Africa" generally. The problem of protracted displacement will be among the issues discussed.

Building on the momentum from all of these activities, the Forced Migration Review (FMR) plans to devote a forthcoming issue to "protracted displacement situations." Interested contributors must submit articles by 19 January 2009.

Many thanks to Jeff Crisp for providing information for this post!

Posted in Events & Opportunities and Publications.