What Works for IDPs? Mapping Good Practices on Internal Displacement Management in Europe and Central Asia Region

A mapping exercise of good practices on internal displacement in Europe and Central Asia to inform researchers, policymakers and practitioners looking for examples of existing solutions

Published on November 9, 2021

Lidia Kuzemska | all, IDPs, Disaster, Conflict, Law/Policy

Drawing of a lost home by an IDP child: situation now (right) and imagining the future (left) photographed at an IDP hub in Kyiv, 2015 © Lidia Kuzemska

The aim of this paper is twofold. The first objective is to outline the widely agreed approaches to good practices on internal displacement that exist in current law and policy in Europe and Central Asia region. The second one is to map good practices on internal displacement that emerged from policies and experiences implemented across the region. I outline sixty good practices that tackle both conflict and disaster displacement by covering themes of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) data and consultations, access to documentation, housing and property, employment, livelihoods and social protection, education and culture, voting, state institutions dedicated to IDPs’ issues, relocation and resettlement, and local integration. The practices originate from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Turkey, Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russian Federation, and the European Union (EU). I conclude that good practices outlined in this paper indicate that a strong political will of the state, its close cooperation with the international organisations and donors, solutions based on consultations with IDP groups and host communities supported by the participation of local civil society and IDP organisations are crucial for success.

Lidia Kuzemska is a sociologist with a keen interdisciplinary interest in forced displacement, borders and citizenship. Her PhD thesis explores how IDPs in Ukraine challenge everyday bordering and discrimination in order to make state policies IDP-inclusive.

This paper was written by the author during her Summer Fellowship on Internal Displacement at the Internal Displacement Research Programme at the Refugee Law Initiative. The Fellowship was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, on behalf of the UKRI Global Challenge Research Fund, as part of the funded project “Interdisciplinary Network on Internal Displacement, Conflict and Protection” (AH/T005351/1).

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