Reaching Internally Displaced Persons to Achieve the 2030 Agenda

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The specific needs of internally displaced persons (IDPs), particularly those stuck in situations of protracted displacement, require states, the United Nations and other humanitarian and development actors to address longer-term challenges and conceptualize, develop, and implement policies that will provide sustainable solutions for these vulnerable populations.
“Addressing both the immediate and the longer term needs of IDPs may require challenging existing practices and mindsets,” according to a new issue brief by the International Peace Institute. Humanitarian actors, traditionally focused on immediate emergency needs, must address protracted displacement. States with high levels of internal displacement must address the needs of IDPs in their implementation of the 2030 Agenda, write ALICE DEBARRE, ARCHIBALD HENRY and MASOOMA RAHMATY.
The international community also has an important role to play in supporting states in this endeavor. For humanitarian and development actors in particular, strategic coordination of efforts, and, where feasible, joint planning and cooperation, will be key.
The authors state that the following recommendations will help ensure that states, the UN, and other humanitarian and development actors are adequately addressing the long-term needs of IDPs:
• Member states should turn their commitment to “leave no one behind” into policy and programming by including IDPs’ concerns in their development planning. In their efforts to ensure that they are on track to implement the 2030 Agenda, states should address internal displacement in their development plans. They should also include information on IDPs in their voluntary national reviews. Ensuring that IDPs’ concerns are being considered will also require that they be included in development budgets at the local, regional, and national levels. Inter-ministerial cooperation will be essential for all of this.
• Humanitarian and development actors should systematically remind national governments of their obligations vis-à-vis IDPs. The core responsibility of supporting IDPs lies with affected states, but humanitarian and development actors can encourage and support member states to implement the 2030 Agenda in ways that include the unique needs of displaced populations.
• The UN and other humanitarian and development actors should strive for closer coordination and cooperation when addressing the needs of IDPs and finding sustainable solutions, particularly in situations of protracted displacement. Existing efforts, such as those highlighted in this issue brief, should be strengthened and streamlined.
• In designing and implementing IDP-inclusive development policies, all stakeholders should ensure that data informing these policies is reliable and takes into account the voices of those affected. For development policies and programs to be tailored to the situation they aim to address, including its gender dimensions, they need to be built on solid data, recognition of the population’s needs, and an understanding of how those needs can best be addressed.