Moving Targets: Social Protection as a Link Between Humanitarianism, Development and Displacement (original) (raw)

Beyond Rights-Based Social Protection for Forcibly Displaced People

2022

Having a right that is not respected is not the same as having no right at all. At least this should not be the case. Failure to receive something to which you are entitled should lead to formal redress or failing that, protest. The rights-based discourse has a wider importance. If and when it is or should be used is significant. In terms of access to social protection (including social and humanitarian assistance), the rights-based discourse means there is no difference between refugees and others who fail to receive the protection to which they are entitled, such as Internally Displaced People (IDPs). This introduces two key tensions, both of which we explore in this paper. The first concerns the identification of the institution responsible for fulfilling the right, as determined in state-led/formal humanitarian system of social protection. The second concerns the alternatives displaced people may identify when Northern mandated forms of social protection fail, or when the condit...

Bridging Refugee Protection and Development

2019

This report provides guidance to policy makers, donors and development and humanitarian organisations on policy options for host countries that cater to their own development needs, as well as the needs of refugees in protracted situations. These policy options have been developed based on desk research and consultations with stakeholders (government institutions, NGOs, chambers of commerce, UN agencies, donors).

Refugees and social protection

Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, 2021

Social protection is a right enshrined in international human rights law; yet, in practice, its provision is often state-led and citizenship-based. This means that refugees and other 'non-citizens' are mostly excluded from access to benefits that the host population receives. This fact posits a national and international policy challenge. In 2018, 65.6 million people were displaced of which 29.4 million persons worldwide were forcibly displaced outside their home country and classified as refugees 1 or asylum seekers. Of these, 15.9 million refugees found themselves in a protracted refugee situation 2 having been displaced for at least five years (UNHCR 2019) and an average duration of 10 years (DeVictor 2019). As a result, those refugees have lived in exile for a prolonged time, often in camps or basic housing in urban centres and are often dependent on others to find solutions to their predicament (Merheb and Loughna 2006). 3 Social protection can help refugees to improve their living situation. Therefore, the social protection needs of refugees must be considered as a critical component of the global and national policy agendas from a durable perspective. While many countries in Europe have put in place measures to provide some degree of social protection to refugees, countries in low-and middle-income countries (LICs and MICs) often face constraints in their ability to do the same. This problem concerns about 80 per cent of all refugees because most refugees end up in neighbouring countries to their country of origin rather than other parts of the world (UNHCR 2019; Puerto Gomez and Christensen 2010). Although a pledge was made under Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1 to expand social protection for all until 2030, this target is still far from being realised. Refugees commonly find themselves in a legally compromised status, which is often combined with asset and income scarcity. As displacement becomes protracted, their resources are further depleted. This places them in increasingly vulnerable positions within the host community. While this situation is often mitigated with short-term humanitarian aid schemes by international actors that are aimed at coping with risk, most of the time refugees become stuck in this coping limbo of aid, with limited possibility to transition from humanitarian assistance to development programmes (Christensen and Harild 2009; Lakhani 2013; Newland 2015). As a result, many refugees are placed in very disadvantaged positions, which not only impacts their ability to 1 Of which 4.4 million fall under the responsibility of the UNRWA (UNHCR 2019). 2 In other words if a group of at least 25,000 individuals of the same nationality has resided in a particular host country for five years or longer (ExCom 2004).

Disasters and Displacement: Gaps in Protection

Natural disasters, particularly those related to climate change, are fast becoming a leading cause of forced displacement although conceptual, normative and institutional frameworks to provide human rights protection to the environmentally displaced are not yet in place. This article discusses the human rights and protection dimensions of disaster-induced displacement, identifies the major challenges to protecting disaster victims, and proposes ways forward. The authors argue that while most environmentally displaced persons are expected to remain within their own countries, there is a lack of clarity about the status and protection needs of those uprooted by environmental degradation and other ‘slow-onset’ disasters as opposed to those displaced by ‘sudden-onset’ disasters. By far the biggest protection gap exists for those who cross borders. These individuals do not generally qualify as refugees under the 1951 Refugee Convention, there is no normative framework to address their specific needs and vulnerabilities and States have not been willing to commit to more than temporary protection on an ad hoc basis. The need is now critical for new approaches to be developed for the environmentally displaced, including expanded normative and institutional frameworks, comprehensive national policies, national and international monitoring, rights training, and more effective ways of dealing with governments that fail to protect their populations.

HUMANITARIAN ACTION FOR DIFFERENT AT-RISK GROUPS IN DISPLACEMENT

Guidance Note: Humanitarian Action for Different At-Risk Groups in Displacement , 2024

To effectively protect and assist displaced persons with diverse characteristics, it is essential to address challenges to their participation, promote more inclusive coordination mechanisms and data systems, and ensure the delivery of more appropriate services. The active and meaningful participation of at-risk groups in displacement is a precondition for more inclusive and effective humanitarian action. Defining roles and responsibilities for the protection of specific groups among humanitarian actors and integrating specialised stakeholders in relevant coordination mechanisms are crucial for developing tailored responses to the specific needs of displaced people. Gaining a comprehensive understanding of the composition of the displaced population and identifying gaps in data collection, use, analysis, and dissemination can lead to practical improvements in humanitarian programming for all displaced persons. Effective humanitarian action requires removing barriers to accessing essential services, as well as complementing these services with targeted efforts that ensure the safety and dignity of every displaced individual.

From responsibility to response : assessing national approaches to internal displacement

2011

National responsibility is fundamental to ensuring an effective approach to internal displacement. The simple fact that internally displaced persons (IDPs) remain within the borders of their country means that it is their own government that bears primary responsibility for protecting and assisting them and for safeguarding populations from arbitrary displacement in the first place. The central role of national authorities in addressing internal displacement has been affirmed in international law, in UN General Assembly and UN Human Rights Council resolutions, in the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, in regional legal instruments such as the African Union Convention on the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons, and in many national laws and policies. Indeed, governments regularly insist that it is their responsibility to protect and assist those displaced within their countries' borders. Moreover, the concept of "sovereignty as responsibility" was the foundation for the development of the concept of "Responsibility to Protect, " which also places strong emphasis, first and foremost, on the role of national governments in protecting their own populations. The question of what it means for a government to exercise its responsibility for IDPs is a relevant and timely one. This study is based on a publication developed in 2005 by the Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement: Addressing Internal Displacement: A Framework for National Responsibility, which suggests twelve benchmarks for governments to use as a guide to develop effective national policies for preventing, responding to and resolving internal displacement situations. This framework, developed by Erin Mooney, one of the coauthors of this study, has been widely used by governments, international organizations, nongovernmental organizations and civil society groups to encourage governments to develop appropriate laws, policies and institutional responses regarding IDPs and to monitor their actual response. This study goes beyond simply recommending steps that governments should take to protect and assist IDPs by examining whether they are doing so in practice. It uses the Framework as a tool for assessing the extent to which fifteen governments in countries experiencing large-scale internal displacement are exercising their national responsibility along each of the twelve benchmarks. The detailed research indicates the ways in which governments have-and have not-exercised the responsibility entrusted to them by international law and the international community and thereby seeks to strengthen governments' accountability to IDPs. This is an important study that will be helpful to me in carrying out my mandate to support the efforts of governments to protect and assist those displaced within their borders. The study should also be of interest to governments of countries with large numbers of IDPs or of those in which displacement is a risk. Governments can see how other governments have dealt with similar challenges, such as preventing displacement, collecting data on IDPs or supporting durable solutions. Civil society groups, UN agencies, human rights organizations, humanitarian actors and donor governments can use this study as a tool to help governments to do the right thing for IDPs. I hope that this report is widely read, discussed, and acted upon. Chaloka Beyani United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons North Darfur, Sudan/ Internally displaced persons (IDPs) settled in Dali camp, next to Tawilla, farm the lands rented by local owners for the rainy season. Most of these IDPs came to Tawilla fleeing the clashes in Shangle Tubaya at the beginning of 2011. Photo: Albert Gonzalez Farran-UNAMID / August 2011 ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS G iven the large number of countries in this study, the range of issues assessed and the nature of data collection, tracking down data to enable analysis of national responses to internal displacement was a labor-intensive process. The initial stage of data collection and analysis for the fifteen countries surveyed was undertaken by a team comprising