From Responsibility to Response: Assessing National - Brookings

Benchmark 9
Facilitate IDPs’ Participation
in Decisionmaking
(a) Do the national authorities encourage
and facilitate the participation of IDPs
in the planning and implementation of
policies and programs for addressing
internal displacement?
IDPs have the right to have a say in the decisions affecting
their lives. As affirmed in the Guiding Principles
on Internal Displacement, authorities in fact have a responsibility
to facilitate the participation of IDPs in the
planning and implementation of policies and programs
concerning internal displacement. That responsibility
pertains to all phases of displacement and to different
elements during each phase.
Principle 3(1) affirms that IDPs have the right to request
and to receive protection and humanitarian assistance
from the national authorities and that they shall not
be persecuted or punished for making such a request.
Principle 7 specifies that outside of the emergency states
of armed conflict or disaster, any decision requiring
displacement must meet several guarantees in order to
comply with international law, including that the displaced
have access to full information on the reasons
and procedures for their displacement and, when applicable,
on compensation and relocation programs; that
free and informed consent is sought of the persons to be
displaced; and that the authorities endeavor to involve
affected persons, particularly women, in the planning
and management of their relocation. Principle 22 affirms
that during displacement, regardless of the cause
of displacement, no IDPs shall be discriminated against
as a result of their displacement in the enjoyment of
their rights, including the right to freedom of thought,
conscience, belief, opinion and expression; the right to
associate freely and to participate equally in community
affairs; the right to vote and to participate in government
and public affairs; and the right to communicate
in a language that they understand. Principle 28(2)
Benchmark 9 Facilitate IDPs’ Participation in Decisionmaking
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affirms that authorities are expected to make “special
efforts” to ensure the full participation of IDPs in the
planning and management of their return or resettlement
(including the option of local integration) and
reintegration. Moreover, Principle 29 affirms that upon
their return, resettlement or local integration, IDPs have
the right to participate fully and equally in public affairs
at all levels.
While the Guiding Principles emphasize that IDPs, like
all persons, have the right to advocate for and participate
in and thereby shape decisions affecting their lives, it is
a right that is all too easy to affirm in laws, policies and
public statements but that is seldom implemented in a
meaningful way. In fact, establishing effective mechanisms
to encourage and enable substantive participation
of IDPs in decisionmaking is not easy as a previous
study by the Brookings-Bern Project on Internal
Displacement found. 1 For example, it can be difficult
to identify genuine representatives of IDP communities,
to ensure that women’s voices are heard, to manage expectations
about consultation and participation, and to
ensure that the safety of IDPs is not jeopardized by their
participation in consultative mechanisms.
Moreover, the terms “consultation” and “participation”
tend to be used interchangeably, yet there are important
differences. Broadly defined, “consultation” is the process
of soliciting and listening to people’s opinions and
perceptions. “Participation” refers to deeper engagement
that may imply a degree of control over decisionmaking
and/or the contribution of labor, skills or material
inputs. Consultation and participation are part of a
process through which stakeholders influence and share
control over initiatives and decisions that affect them.
1 Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement, Moving
beyond Rhetoric: Consultation and Participation with
Populations Displaced by Conflict or Natural Disasters,
October 2008 (www.brookings.edu/reports/2008/10_
internal_displacement.aspx); Brookings-Bern Project
on Internal Displacement, Consulting IDPs: Moving
Beyond Rhetoric, summary report of conference held
15–16 November 2007 in Geneva, February 2008 (www.
brookings.edu/papers/2008/02_displacement.aspx).