Book Launch Event (Hybrid): Responding to internal displacement in a shifting humanitarian landscape

Thursday 7 May I 18:00 – 19:00 BST I Followed by a drinks reception. Hybrid: ODI Global, 4 Millbank, London SW1P 3JA and online. This launch event brings together four of the Handbook's authors to reflect on the importance of a renewed focus on internal displacement for engaging with key challenges for humanitarian work in a rapidly shifting global context. Event details and registration information below.

Published on April 28, 2026

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What to expect:

Given the prevalence of internal displacement globally, its low profile in humanitarian practice and research is both notable and problematic. The newly published, 45-chapter Oxford University Press Handbook of Internal Displacement seeks to change that. This launch event brings together four of its authors to reflect on the importance of a renewed focus on internal displacement for engaging with key challenges for humanitarian work in a rapidly shifting global context.

This hybrid panel will explore how the humanitarian response to internal displacement is currently working in a rapidly reconfigured space, moulded by global pressures: the legal and policy frameworks that contribute to the protection of IDPs in practice; the role of displacement-affected communities in the humanitarian response; the complex ways that internal displacement shapes health outcomes for displaced individuals and local health systems; and the key challenges for humanitarian actors working in contexts of internal displacement.

The launch of this handbook is accompanied by a Researching Internal Displacement series of short articles on ‘Internal Displacement in a Changing World Order’. Flyers for the book and discount codes will be available for participants who attend the event in person.

You’ll hear from :

David Cantor (Professor and Director, Refugee Law Initiative and lead editor of the handbook)
Yana Liubymova (Co-founder, Congress of IDP Councils of Ukraine and author of handbook foreword)
Bayard Roberts (Professor of Health Systems and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and author of chapter: The Health Impacts of Internal Displacement, with Winifred Ekezie)
Leen Fouad (Senior Research Officer at Humanitarian Policy Group and author of chapter: Practicalities of Humanitarian Action in Contexts of Internal Displacement, with Caitlin Sturridge and Kerrie Holloway)

The panel is hosted by the Internal Displacement Research Programme at the Refugee Law Initiative (RLI)and the Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI). It is supported by Researching Internal Displacement.

The event will take place at ODI Global in London on Thursday 7 May between 18:00 and 19:00, followed by a drinks reception.

You can register here to participate in this event in person or online; and you can email [email protected] if you have any questions about the event.

Just Published: The Oxford Handbook of Internal Displacement

Apr 22, 2026 The Oxford Handbook of Internal Displacement is now available digitally and in print. To order, contact your preferred print or eBook supplier, institutional library or the publisher. See what people are saying about this groundbreaking publication.

Groundbreaking New Publication: The Oxford Handbook of Internal Displacement

By RID | Apr 14, 2026 The displacement of people within their own countries due to crises such as conflicts, disasters, and the effects of climate change is a major contemporary challenge, eliciting global concern about how to protect the displaced. The vast scale of this 'internal displacement' poses far-reaching questions for key debates around humanitarian aid, development, migration, sovereignty, rights, citizenship, identity, and social change. Yet knowledge of the issue is fragmented and highly dispersed across a range of academic and policy domains. This groundbreaking new publication brings together 45 contributions by leading researchers and practitioners, providing an essential point of reference for advancing these debates and raising the profile of internal displacement as a vital concern for research and policy agendas.

Internal displacement in the context of organized criminal activity – Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons

By United Nations Human Rights | Jun 27, 2025 A new report by the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, Paula Gaviria Betancur, examines the phenomenon of internal displacement in the context of organised criminal activity. Experts at the Refugee Law Initiative's Internal Displacement Research Programme provided submissions to the report. Their submissions were subsequently published as a collection by Researching Internal Displacement.