From Responsibility to Response: Assessing National - Brookings

about the national policy. 16 Sudan’s National Policy on
Internally Displaced Persons (2009) includes a provision
on recognition of the right of IDPs to equal participation
in public affairs; however, it is unclear whether
there has been more than token IDP participation. 17 The
record also has been mixed in Turkey. The Van Action
Plan, adopted in 2006, provides for the involvement of
IDPs and emphasizes the importance of a participatory
approach. However, implementation of the action plan
has been criticized for its lack of transparency, exclusion
of IDPs from the consultation process, exclusion
of the views of some organizations from the final action
plan, and the “involvement of government-oriented
organizations in the workshops under the guise of
‘civil society.’” 18 According to Iraq’s National Policy on
Displacement (2008), consultations with key stakeholders
contributed to development of the policy; however,
specifics are not available.
Beyond the context of national policies on internal displacement,
there have been occasional efforts to consult
with IDPs on specific programs or polices, but it is hard
to determine whether the efforts involved genuine involved
participation. For example, efforts were made to
involve IDPs in Uganda in drafting the Peace, Recovery
and Development Plan for Northern Uganda in 2005.
16 According to the Nepal IDP Working Group, while 61
percent of surveyed IDPs and returnees knew of the
existence of return and rehabilitation packages, only 35
percent were aware of the policy and none could identify
the rights end entitlements specified (Nepal IDP Working
Group, 15 June 2009, p. 34).
17 National Policy on Internally Displaced Persons (2009),
Section 5(a)20.
18 According to Turkish Economic and Social Studies
Foundation, which relayed the concerns of civil society
organizations to the Van Governorship and the UNDP;
see Deniz Yükseker and Dilek Kurban, Permanent Solution
to Internal Displacement? An Assessment of the Van Action
Plan for IDPs, Turkish Economic and Social Studies
Foundation, May 2009, pp. 16–18 (www.tesev.org.tr/
UD_OBJS/PDF/DEMP/TESEV_VanActionPlanReport.
pdf).
Benchmark 9 Facilitate IDPs’ Participation in Decisionmaking
119
In Pakistan, meanwhile, there is no evidence that the
national authorities encourage participation of IDPs.
However, at the provincial level, the government of
North‐West Frontier Province (NWFP) developed the
Return Policy Framework with the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in 2009. In this
return policy, the provincial government commits to
ensuring that vulnerable IDPs are properly consulted
through all stages of the national response to displacement.
19 But again, there is no evidence that such consultations
have taken place. In the Democratic Republic of
the Congo (DRC), research did not reveal any evidence
that national authorities encourage and facilitate the participation
of IDPs in the planning and implementation
of policies and programs addressing their displacement
even though the government has signed protocols, such
as the Dar-el-Salaam Declaration on Peace, Security, and
Democracy and Development in the Great Lakes Region
(2004) to protect vulnerable groups, including displaced
persons, and to include them in peace efforts. 20
As the Framework for National Responsibility points
out, ensuring that IDPs play a strong role in camp management
is a component of governments’ responsibility
to encourage and facilitate the participation of IDPs in
the planning and management of programs to address
their needs and protect their rights. The establishment
of IDP committees in camps or other IDP settlements
can be an important mechanism for facilitating consultation
with IDPs and their participation in the design
and implementation of programs. In Uganda, IDP
committees were established in each of the camps. In
Georgia, UNHCR found there to be “well-functioning
IDP committees in collective centers”; 21 however, that
19 The name of the province was officially changed in April
2010 to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
20 International Conference for Peace, Security, Democracy
and Development in the Great Lakes Region, First
Summit of Heads of state and Governrments, Dar-es
Salaam Declaration on Peace, Security and Democracy and
Development in the Great Lakes Region, Draft 2, Article 27
(www.grandslacs.net/doc/3211.pdf).
21 UNHCR, “Input to Universal Periodic Review,” 16 July
2010, para. 12.