By 2017, it was estimated that over 40 million people were displaced within their own countries by conflict and violence across at least 56 countries worldwide. Solutions to the epidemic of forced internal displacement are frequently premised on the return of internally displaced persons (IDPs). Indeed, as a characteristic need of IDPs, such returns benefit from a special protection framework developed by IDP protection instruments such as the Guiding Principles. However, the legal status of those instruments remains ambiguous, generating attendant questions about the congruity of the IDP return framework with existing international law. Moreover, limited knowledge exists on its practical implementation. As a result, both inter-national agencies and individual scholars have repeatedly issued urgent calls for comprehensive and grounded theoretical investigation into this topic. This book answers those long-standing calls for research by presenting a detailed study of the return of conflict-afffected IDPs under international law.

Since the end of the Cold War, increasing numbers of people have been forced to leave their homes as a result of armed conflict, internal strife, and systematic violations of human rights. Whereas refugees crossing national borders benefit from an established system of international protection and assistance, those who are displaced internally suffer from an absence of legal or institutional bases for their protection and assistance from the international community. This book analyzes the causes and consequences of displacement, including its devastating impact both within and beyond the borders of affected countries. It sets forth strategies for preventing displacement, a special legal framework tailored to the needs of the displaced, more effective institutional arrangements at the national, regional, and international levels, and increased capacities to address the protection, human rights, and reintegration and development needs of the displaced.

This book addresses the involuntary and arbitrary displacement of individuals resulting from armed conflict and gross human rights violations. It shows that forcible displacement constitutes a serious violation of international law and of fundamental community interests. Armed Conflict and Forcible Displacement provides a critical legal analysis of the contemporary international framework, permeating forcible displacement in these circumstances and explores the rights that individuals possess with specific focus on the right not to be displaced and, where this fails, the right to return home and to receive property restitution. In doing so, this volume marries together different fields of international law and builds on the case studies of Cyprus, Colombia, Cambodia and Syria. While the case studies considered here are far from exhaustive, they are either little explored or present significant challenges due to the magnitude of displacement or contested international jurisprudence. Through this analysis, the volume exposes some of the legal challenges that individuals encounter in being protected from forcible displacement, as well as the legal obstacles that persist in ensuring the return of and the recovery of property by the displaced. It will be of interest to those interested in the fields of international law, human rights law, as well as conflict and war studies.

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2010 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: Peace and Conflict Studies, Security, grade: 2,0, Management Center Innsbruck, course: Non-profit Management, Peace Studies, language: English, abstract: Relative peace since 2006, after 20 years of armed conflict in Northern Uganda, brings the possibility for the internal displaced persons (IDPs) to leave displacement camps and return to the area of their original residence. Through a standardized survey of 178 individuals from the Gulu district in Northern Uganda, this study examines the needs and prerequisites of return and reintegration. Lasting peace is the uttermost condition for any other prerequisite of this study. IDPs need the voluntary wish to return, which 75% did indicate since they are longing for their ancestral land to engage in agriculture and want to leave behind the harsh and unfavourable conditions of the IDP camps. The population of the Gulu district has been highly traumatized by the lasting armed conflict, making counselling and psychological treatment of trauma necessary. 1/3 is suffering from nightmares and 1/4 fears evil spirits from murdered members of their communities. Over 2/3 of IDPs believe that justice was not achieved. Voluntary movement has to be guaranteed, as the returnees who felt forced to return show significantly high movement between the return area and the old IDP camp and lower ability for reintegration. Although, 90% of the once 1.8 million IDPs have returned, only 50% have been able to fully reintegrate back into a life of social, economic and cultural balance. The majority from the remaining IDPs are unable to return out of their own strength. 9% percent has lost hope to be able to return, since they cannot find assistance or do not have land to return to. 46% are extremely vulnerable, needing special assistance and tailored interventions, as they lack the financial and human capacity to return. 1/5 of the IDPs do not know the bou

While the plight of persons displaced within the borders of states has emerged as a global concern, not much attention has been given to this specific category of persons in international legal scholarship. Unlike refugees, internally displaced persons remain within the states in which they are displaced. Current statistics indicate that there are more people displaced within state borders than persons displaced outside states. Romola Adeola examines the protection of the internally displaced person under international law, considering existing legal regimes at various levels of governance and institutional mechanisms for internally displaced persons.

The coerced displacement of people within the borders of their own countries by armed conflicts, internal strife, and systematic violations of human rights has become a pervasive feature of the post Cold War era. The plight of the displaced poses a challenge that is not only humanitarian but a threat to the security and stability of countries, regions, and, through a chain effect, the international system. This book contains case studies of ten countries that have suffered severe problems of internal displacement: Burundi, Rwanda, Liberia, and the Sudan in Africa; the former Yugoslavia and the Caucasus in Europe; Tajikistan and Sri Lanka in Asia; and Colombia and Peru in the Americas. The contributors are Thomas Greene, Randolph C. Kent, Jennifer McLean, Larry Minear, Liliana Obregón, Amir Pasic, Hiram A. Ruiz, Colin Scott, H.L. Seneviratne, Maria Stavropoulou, and Thomas G. Weiss. Additionally, the contributors and editors offer recommendations for further action.