In 2024, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Solutions to Internal Displacement will wrap up the work on this issue begun by his High-Level Panel in 2020 and continued under his Action Agenda. These processes reflect a longstanding preoccupation that, despite decades of efforts including the 1998 UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and the humanitarian reform, the acute needs of many internally displaced persons (IDPs) remain unmet and, globally, long-term solutions to their situation appear elusive.
This conference provides a forum for researchers, practitioners, policy-makers and students from all disciplines to come together to present, debate and reflect on ‘solutions’ to internal displacement and their future. It offers the chance to develop new research agendas and collaborations. Alongside keynote presentations, it will host ‘thematic’ and ‘open’ panel sessions to share research and analysis from academia and from policy/practice.
1. Keynote Speakers
“Academic Research on IDPs: Trends, Gaps, Possibilities”
Professor Elizabeth Ferris, Director of the Institute for the Study of International Migration, Georgetown University, USA
“From Displacement to Solutions: Pathways to Break Patterns of Protracted Internal Displacement”
Robert Piper, Special Adviser on Solutions to Internal Displacement, Office of the United Nations Secretary General
2. Hosts
The Internal Displacement Research Programme is based at the Refugee Law Initiative, a unique academic centre promoting interdisciplinary research, teaching and exchange on law, policy and practice in displacement contexts. As a national focal point for leading and promoting research in this field, the RLI works to integrate the shared interests of scholars and practitioners, stimulate collaboration between these fields, and achieve policy impact at the national and international level.
As part of the UN Secretary-General’s Action Agenda on Internal Displacement, he created a time-bound position of Special Adviser on Solutions to Internal Displacement. The Office of the Special Adviser, established in June 2022, serves as the UN’s prime advocate on solutions and is tasked with helping drive a change in the approach to solutions within and outside the UN system. The Secretary-General appointed Robert Piper to serve as the Special Adviser in May 2022.
3. Draft programme
You can now view and download the draft programme for the conference here.
4. Registration
All attendees, including presenters, will need to register for the conference via: rli.sas.ac.uk/events/internal-displacement-and-solutions
There is a standard registration charge of £15 to cover the administrative costs of running the conference. RLI Affiliates and students on our MA in Refugee Protection, as well as displaced persons, can register for free, please email requests to [email protected]. Conference registration for one day only is not available. Tickets are non-refundable.