You are here:


Launch: RSQ Special Issue

‘Why Do We Need New Research on Internal Displacement?’

 

__________________________________

 

 

This event launches the Special Issue on Improving Attention to Internal Displacement Globally – published free online just now by the Refugee Survey Quarterly (RSQ) journal.

Bringing together over 20 original peer-reviewed articles by researchers, practitioners and policy-makers, the new Special Issue contributes to renewed debate on policy challenges and solutions for the protracted crisis of internal displacement that affects tens of millions of people worldwide. Two Secretariat members of the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement
(HLP), Greta Zeender (Head of Research and Outcomes) and Mark Yarnell (Research and Outcomes Officer), served as its guest editors.

 

Hosted by the Internal Displacement Research Programme the event draws on the Special Issue to debate the state of research on internal displacement: why is there so little research on the topic? Why does that matter for academic debate and practical action on IDPs? The event speaks directly to IDP and related fields, including refugees, development and peacebuilding. 


_________________________________

The 90-minute Zoom roundtable presents structured interventions as follows: 

  • The research problem - Professor David Cantor (RSQ Editor-in-Chief; IDRP Director)
  • Special Issue author presentations: researching political will & internal displacement
    • Dr Romola Adeola (Global Engagement Network on Internal Displacement in Africa, University of Pretoria) – States and political will to implement IDP law and policy
    • Dr Ben Hudson (University of Exeter) – Promoting political will on internal displacement via inter-State platforms
    • Lígia Magalhães (IDP department, Mexican Commission for Defense and Promotion of Human Rights) – NGOs leveraging evidence to foster State political will on IDPs
  • Open audience/panel discussion: on presentations / future of research on internal displacement - moderated by Mark Yarnell (HLP Secretariat)

  • Policy reflections - George Okoth-Obbo (Head, HLP Secretariat)

The practical outcomes and recommendations from this discussion will be taken up through the IDRP to promote further research networking among participants and engagement in this field.