MERNID Webinar: ‘Through a Legal Lens – Internal Displacement, Citizenship and Statelessness’

This MERNID webinar asks what role legal concepts of citizenship – and statelessness – in defining the situation of IDPs caught up in conflicts such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan

Published on May 4, 2021

MERNID | mernid

Internally displaced persons (IDPs) are usually assumed to be citizens of their country who, in principle, can rely on the legal protection of their own government. Yet the enormous IDP crises of the past decade in the Middle East call these assumptions sharply into question. What role does law play protecting IDPs caught up in conflictive and unstable contexts as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan? What does this mean for legal concepts of citizenship – and statelessness – in this region?

The new Middle East Research Network on Internal Displacement (MERNID) begins a conversation on the issue through three local case-studies. MERNID works to address the gaps in research on internal displacement in this region by building a robust community of researchers and practitioners around this challenge. The webinar will be chaired by MERNID director, Dr Hana Asfour.

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