From Responsibility to Response: Assessing National - Brookings

Benchmark 6 Develop a National Policy on Internal Displacement
In 1999, the government of Sri Lanka initiated a process
under the Relief, Rehabilitation, and Reconciliation
Framework to “address the challenges of ensuring
effective programming for the conflict-affected
population.” 40 In June 2002, after an extensive consultative
process with multiple stakeholders, including IDPs,
the government adopted the National Framework for
Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation. This framework
established a set of policies and strategies related
to human rights, specific rights of the displaced, relief,
and reconciliation/peace-building, to be followed up by
relevant actors. Policy recommendations include adopting
the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement as
official policy for assisting internally displaced persons
affected by the conflict; conducting regular surveys and
assessments with a view to accelerating and expanding
opportunities for resettlement and reintegration; and
establishing an independent humanitarian ombudsman
system. 41 Since the adoption of the national framework,
the government passed the Resettlement Authority Act
(2007), which established the Resettlement Authority,
charged with formulating a “national policy and to plan,
implement, monitor, and co-ordinate the resettlement
of the internally displaced and refugees.” 42 As of July
2011, there is no such national policy. 43
Peshawar, Return Policy Framework: Official Statement, 11
July 2009 (http://reliefweb.int/node/316752).
40 Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement,
“National and Regional Laws and Policies on Internal
Displacement: Sri Lanka,” (www.brookings.edu/projects/
idp/Laws-and-Policies/sri_lanka.aspx).
41 Government of Sri Lanka, National Framework for Relief,
Rehabilitation, and Reconciliation, June 2002, available at
Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement, “Sri
Lanka: Laws and Policies.”
42 “Resettlement” in the Sri Lanka context refers to return.
Government of Sri Lanka, Parliament, Resettlement
Authority Act, No. 9 of 2007, available at Brookings-Bern
Project on Internal Displacement, “Sri Lanka: Laws and
Policies.”
43 Government of Sri Lanka, Ministry of Resettlement
and Disaster Services, Resettlement Authority (www.
resettlementmin.gov.lk/resettlement-authority.html).
83
Kenya’s draft National Policy for the Prevention of
Internal Displacement and the Protection and Assistance
to Internally Displaced Persons (2010) is fully consistent
with the Guiding Principles; the International
Conference on the Great Lakes Region Protocol on
the Protection and Assistance to Internally Displaced
Persons and Protocol on the Property Rights of
Returning Persons; and the African Union Convention
for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Persons
in Africa. Kenya’s draft national policy criminalizes acts
leading to arbitrary displacement and calls for measures
guarding against factors conducive to internal
displacement.
In Yemen, following a visit and recommendations in
April 2010 from Representative of the UN Secretary-
General on the Human Rights of IDPs Walter Kälin,
the government reportedly began drafting a national
IDP strategy. 44 However, at the time of writing, the
policy only existed in preliminary draft form, still to
be reviewed and adopted by the government—and the
country was undergoing political upheaval.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a draft strategy
on return reportedly was drafted sometime within
the past few years by the government with the assistance
of Danish Refugee Council; however, no evidence of the
strategy could be confirmed. 45
In Myanmar, while there is no national policy or plan
of action to address internal displacement, two strategy
documents address post-Nargis displacement: the
Action Plan on Disaster Risk Reduction 2009–2015 and
the Post-Nargis Recovery and Preparedness Plan. The
government, through a task force comprising representatives
of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and
Resettlement and eleven other ministries together with
representatives from the Myanmar Red Cross Society,
44 OHCHR, “Internally Displaced Persons in Yemen
Threatened by Lack of Humanitarian Funding,” 12 April
2010 (www.brookings.edu/projects/idp/~/link.aspx?_id=
C664612845424E5788C489079C3B3E3D&_z=z).
45 According to correspondence with the Internal
Displacement Monitoring Centre.