Inter-State Dialogue on Internal Displacement: Lessons from Regional Platforms in Africa

The experience of the African Union and its Regional Economic Communities shows the important role that regional platforms can play in promoting inter-State dialogue and learning on internal displacement and internally displaced persons.
Published on August 21, 2020
Allehone Abebe | idrp, Regional, Africa, International organisations

The briefing was presented to the UNSG High Level Panel on Internal Displacement in Work-stream 1 (Political Will).

Dr Allehone Abebe is a Senior Legal Officer, seconded by UNHCR to African Union Commission.

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Researching Internal Displacement publishes engaging and insightful short pieces of writing, artistic and research outputs, policy briefings and think pieces on internal displacement.

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This working paper highlights the relatively unknown deportation of Soviet Koreans, the first of several state deportations based on ethnicity carried out by the Soviet Union. The forced displacement, mainly to Central Asian republics of the former Soviet Union, was highly classified during Soviet times, leading to misunderstandings and subsequent misrepresentations of the event by Western scholars and the creation of multiple inaccurate narratives, including that of ethnic cleansing. By conducting an interdisciplinary study, the author critically analyses widespread misconceptions about the deportation of the Soviet Koreans and provides objective data on the issue and its long-lasting effects on the Soviet Koreans who survived deportation and their descendants.
By Tomy Ncube and Una Murray | Mar 12, 2026
As climate impacts intensify, planned relocation is increasingly deployed as an adaptation strategy, yet outcomes for relocated communities remain consistently adverse. This paper argues that these failures stem from the treatment of planned relocation as a short-term, projectised disaster response rather than as a long-term developmental intervention. Drawing on social protection theory, this paper reconceptualises planned relocation as a form of social assistance, capable of delivering durable solutions. It demonstrates that planned relocation inherently performs preventive, protective, promotive, and potentially transformative social protection functions by minimising future climate risks, providing non-contributory transfers such as land and housing, and enabling livelihood reconstruction. However, when implemented outside formal social protection systems, these functions may collapse, often resulting in impoverishment and protracted displacement.