Inter-State Dialogue on Internal Displacement: Promoting Global Platforms?

This briefing paper explores the potential of existing fora as sites or models for inter-State dialogue on internal displacement, and assesses the need for a dedicated global forum on internal displacement.

Published on August 21, 2020

Ben Hudson and Bríd Ní Ghráinne | idrp, International, Regional, International organisations, United Nations, Human Rights Law

There is no formal State-based forum at the global level specifically dedicated to internal displacement. This briefing paper thus: (i) explores the potential of existing fora as sites or models for inter-State dialogue on internal displacement (sections 1-3); and (ii) assesses the need for a dedicated global forum on internal displacement (section 4).

Specific attention is given to: a) human rights platforms, particularly UN human rights treaty bodies (HRTBs) and the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a procedure of the UN Human Rights Council in which all States participate (in section 1); b) refugee-related fora, namely the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme (EXCOM) and Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) (in section 2); and c) informal fora specifically on internal displacement, such as the GP20 process and the Displacement Dialogues (in section 3).

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

Dr Ben Hudson is a Lecturer, University of Exeter, and Dr Bríd Ní Ghráinne is Senior Researcher, Judicial Studies Institute, Masaryk University.

Download the Briefing Paper

HOW TO CONTRIBUTE

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

We welcome contributions from academics, practitioners, researchers, officials, artists, poets, writers, musicians, dancers, postgraduate students and people affected by internal displacement.

Contact the Editorial Team

How to Contribute

Rethinking Planned Relocation as Social Protection In an Era of Increasing Climate Change Risks

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.

Moving Towards Solutions: Addressing Loss and Damage from Protracted Displacement in Bangladesh

By Steve Miron, Dyuti Tasnuva Rifat, Tanjib Islam | Feb 25, 2026

Researching Internal Displacement is pleased to make this case study available as a stand-alone publication. Excerpted from a recent research and advocacy report by the Refugee Law Initiative, this case study of an urban informal settlement in Tongi, Bangladesh, examines the lived experience of loss and damage among people displaced in the context of climate change and left behind in climate action. Encouragingly, the case study also highlights a promising 'good practice' development intervention by the SAJIDA Foundation. In the case study, programme participants describe how Sajida’s multifaceted approach, which empowers women and girls, encourages positive behaviour change and prioritises psychosocial wellbeing across multiple programme workstreams, has helped restore agency, self-sufficiency and hope. SAJIDA’s programme shows how protracted displacement and associated losses and damages can be addressed and are not inevitable.

Missing in (Climate) Action? Displaced Communities and the Search for Durable Solutions: Bangladesh as a loss and damage case study

By Steven Miron, Dyuti Tasnuva Rifat, Tanjib Islam | Oct 21, 2025

Foregrounding the voices of people living in three different communities of displacement in Bangladesh, this field research and advocacy report examines the nexus of climate change, loss and damage and displacement. This comprehensive report highlights promising interventions by Bangladeshi civil society organisations that have helped internally displaced people (IDPs) living in protracted displacement move toward durable solutions. It also examines positive developments on the policy front, including Bangladesh's fledgling National Strategy on Internal Displacement Management (NSIDM). At the same time, it calls attention to how Bangladesh's protracted displacement crisis remains under acknowledged and therefore under addressed in national policy and programming. The findings and recommendations in this report are intended to inform the UNFCCC's Loss and Damage mechanism – the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), the Santiago Network for Loss and Damage (SNLD) and the Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) ExCom, including its Taskforce on Displacement. Each must urgently demonstrate its commitment to addressing the growing displacement crisis and supporting durable solution programming. The report's findings and recommendations are also relevant to intergovernmental, governmental and civil society organisations working in and outside Bangladesh. Furthermore, the report suggests how conventional durable solutions approaches to displacement must evolve to remain relevant in a world of escalating losses and damages resulting from climate change.