Navigating the question of protection for internally displaced persons (IDPs) require significant attention to their concerns in developing sustainable solutions. In certain instances, relocation may be resisted. Such resistance may be symptomatic of certain issues that need to be addressed. With a specific focus on the Bududa residents in the Mt. Elgon region of Uganda, this brief examines the issue of resistance to relocation and advocates for rethinking protection strategies.
By Duaa Nooreddine | Jun 11, 2026
This brief paper highlights the problem of "circular displacement". In Lebanon, displacement is not an event with a clear beginning and end. Nor is it simply a recurring cycle. For many affected people, it is an ongoing condition where the effects of displacement are never fully resolved and where each recurring cycle leaves people's lives further depleted.
The effects are especially acute for the many stateless people displaced in a country that does not fully recognise them. Caught in a cycle of conflict and legal exclusion, stateless people in Lebanon, including Dom, Bedouin and Palestinians from Syria, struggle to access formal protection systems, restore documentation or even leave the country. Describing how existing international frameworks intended to address displacement and statelessness fail in Lebanon, the author highlights the need for both operational and legal reforms, including the establishment of a statelessness determination procedure.
