From Responsibility to Response: Assessing National - Brookings

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CHAPTER 1 Assessing National Approaches to Internal Displacement: Findings from 15 Countries the Electoral Code and the law on IDPs meant that IDPs could not register their residence in the location of their displacement—and thereby be entitled to vote in that electoral district—without losing their IDP status and the entitlements it entails under national law. In other words, IDPs were doubly disenfranchised: they were unable to vote for deputies from their area of origin and for those representing the locality where they resided during their displacement. NGOs brought the issue before the Constitutional Court. Francis Deng, the Representative of the Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons (RSG on IDPs), OHCHR, and the OSCE also undertook advocacy on the issue, which NGOs raised in the UN Human Rights Committee and UN Commission on Human Rights (now UN Human Rights Council). In 2001 and 2003, the Election Code was amended to remove the restrictions preventing IDPs from exercising their right to vote in their current place of residence. Moreover, in 2003, a decision of Parliament ended the mandate of the Abkhaz parliamentary deputies, last elected in 1992, with their seats to be left vacant until such time that parliamentary elections can be held again in Abkhazia. 30 However, there still are practical difficulties—for example, in registering IDPs on electoral lists—and there is a certain disenchantment among IDPs with the political process and their resulting disengagement from it. In Iraq, legal and practical obstacles have impeded IDPs’ exercise of their voting rights, though a number of the issues have now been addressed. The nonregistration of IDPs and returnees “remains a significant humanitarian concern,” according to RSG Walter Kälin’s report following his visit to Iraq in 2010, as it inhibits or precludes access to basic services and government assistance, impedes the transfer or recognition of certain documents and the rental or purchase of land, and impedes exercise of the right to vote. During his visit, however, Kälin was informed of the government’s willingness and intention 30 Erin Mooney and Balkees Jarrah, The Voting Rights of Internally Displaced Persons: The OSCE Region (Brookings- SAIS Project on Internal Displacement, November 2004), pp. 33–41. 122 to reopen registration procedures for all IDPs. 31 Many of the more than 200,000 people who had recently been displaced from Fallujah were unable to register before the deadline to vote in the 2005 elections; other IDPs were unable to register due to a lack of documentation; and there were no provisions for absentee voting. 32 Security concerns also made it difficult for IDPs to travel to polling stations. To address that issue, in the January 2005 election in Iraq, polling stations were set up in the camps, at least for IDPs who had been displaced from Fallujah. 33 By the March 2010 parliamentary elections, an amendment to Law No. 16 (2005) on elections meant that IDPs were able to register at the location of displacement to vote in elections in their electoral districts in their place of origin—that is, through absentee voting. 34 A displaced voter was defined as an Iraqi who was forcibly displaced from his/her permanent place of residence to another place inside Iraq after 9 April 2003, for whatever reason. While only 97,000 IDPs— around 5 percent of the total figure for IDPs displaced since 2003—registered to vote as absentees during the voter registration updates that occurred in 2008 and 2009, all Iraqis registered in the public distribution system for food rations were automatically registered to vote. According to the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), there were 1,100 polling stations for IDPs registered for absentee voting; in addition, 541 polling stations were set up for conditional absentee voting for voters registered as IDPs with the Ministry of Trade or the Ministry of Displacement and Migration who did not register with the Independent High Electoral Commission for absentee voting. 35 Total voting turnout 31 UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Representative of the Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, Walter Kälin—Addendum: Visit to Iraq, A/HRC/16/43/Add.1, para. 52, 16 February 2011 (http:// ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?m=71). 32 Erin Mooney and Balkees Jarrah, “Iraq’s Displaced Voters,” New York Times, Letter to the Editor, 25 January 2005. 33 Mooney and Jarrah, “Safeguarding IDP Voting Rights,” p. 55. 34 Amendment passed by the Council of Representatives in November 2009 and approved by the Presidency Council of Iraq in December 2009. 35 UNAMI Electoral Assistance Office, Fact Sheet: Voting for
was 12 million, or 62 percent of the registered population of around 18 million. 36 In both Georgia and Iraq as well as the other countries that have a national policy on IDPs, the policy tends to include provisions reaffirming IDPs’ right to political participation, including the right to vote. In Colombia, the right of IDPs to vote in national and local elections is reaffirmed in Law 387 (1997) and the Constitutional Court’s Decision T-025 (2004). 37 However, in practice, the fact of displacement, registration issues, and insecurity are major obstacles for many IDPs to participating in elections. 38 In Nepal, IDPs’ entitlement to vote in elections in accordance with the law is affirmed in the National Policy on Internally Displaced Persons (2007), 39 but they must vote in their original place of residence; however, IDPs Internally Displaced Persons (Absentee Voting) (www.iheciq.com/en/factsheets.html); UNAMI, Iraq Election 2010, bi-annual magazine, June 2010 (www.uniraq.org/FileLib/ misc/For_Iraq_August_2010_EN.pdf); U.S. Embassy of Iraq, Iraqi National Election 2010: FAQ (http://iraq. usembassy.gov/root/pdfs/electionsfaq.pdf ). 36 UNAMI, “Electoral Support,” (www.uniraq.org/electoral/ ElectoralSupport.asp). 37 Government of Colombia, Law 387 of 1997; Constitutional Court of Colombia, Third Review Chamber, Decision T-025 of 2004, Both are available in Spanish and English at Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement, “National and Regional Laws and Policies on Internal Displacement: Colombia,” (www.brookings.edu/projects/ idp/Laws-and-Policies/colombia.aspx) Both are also available in English in: Rodolfo Arango Rivadeneira, ed., Judicial Protection of Internally Displaced Persons: The Colombian Experience (Washington, DC: Brookings- Bern Project on Internal Displacement, November 2009), Annexes (www.brookings.edu/papers/2009/11_judicial_ protection_arango.aspx). 38 CODHES, “Desplazados de la democracia. Garantías políticas y riesgos electorales,” 5 March 2010 (http:// reliefweb.int/node/347221). 39 Section 8.1.11. Full text of the policy in English, available at Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement, “National and Regional Laws and Policies on Internal Displacement: Nepal,” (www.brookings.edu/projects/idp/ Laws-and-Policies/nepal.aspx). Benchmark 9 Facilitate IDPs’ Participation in Decisionmaking 123 rarely return to their original residence, as the RSG on IDPs noted following his 2005 mission to Nepal. 40 Moreover, IDPs face many other disenfranchising conditions, including lack of documentation, discrimination, insecurity, acts of intimidation, lack of awareness and financial constraints. Further compounding their difficulties, IDPs in Nepal tend to be from rural areas and to be only semi-literate and, in many areas, the government itself was displaced and was therefore “unable to provide documentation or proofs of citizenship to local residents who may have been displaced subsequently.” 41 Sudan’s National Policy on Internally Displaced Persons (2009) provides that IDPs have a right to equal participation in public affairs. 42 However, a flawed census in 2008, on which electoral representation was based, meant that many were excluded from voter lists in the most recent national elections, the general elections held in 2010. For example, most of the estimated 2.6 million IDPs in Darfur living in camps and the people living in areas under rebel control were among those not enumerated. 43 IDPs in the North were also underrepresented in the census and under-registered for the 2010 general elections, including in Khartoum. 44 For 40 UN General Assembly, Report of the Representative of the Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, A/60/338, 7 September 2005 (http:// ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?m=71). 41 Citation from Anita Ghimire, “Enfranchising IDPs in Nepal,” Forced Migration Review, iss. 28, July 2007, p. 48 (www.fmreview.org). See also, Norwegian Refugee Council, “IDPs Excluded from Voting in their Place of Displacement,” April 2008 (www.nrc.no/?did=9262093). 42 Government of the Sudan, Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, National Policy on Internally Displaced Person (IDPs), 2009, Article 6. Full text available in English at Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement, “National and Regional Laws and Policies on Internal Displacement: Sudan,” (www.brookings.edu/projects/idp/ Laws-and-Policies/sudan.aspx). 43 International Crisis Group, “Rigged Elections in Darfur and the Consequences of a Probable NCP Victory in Sudan,” 30 March 2010 (www.crisisgroup.org); IDP Action, “IDPs and Elections in Sudan,” 11 March 2010 (http://reliefweb.int/node/347883). 44 IDP Action, “IDPs and Elections in Sudan,” 11 March 2010 (http://reliefweb.int/node/347883).
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The Brookings Institution - London
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From Responsibility to Response: As
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CONTENTS Acronyms .................
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ACRONYMS AIHRC Afghanistan Independ
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FOREWORD It is with great pleasure
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Given the large num
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It is a central tenet of internatio
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legislation relevant to IDPs. Still
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amend existing ones, in line with t
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Background and Aims of the Study In
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displacement persists for several y
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operationalizing the responsibiliti
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Therefore, it is not surprising tha
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Azerbaijani, Chinese, French, Portu
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National Initiatives In Iraq, IOM p
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of the country. 62 In addition, six
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in French and Spanish depending on
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serves only to supplant and absolve
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CHAPTER 1 Assessing National Approa
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Benchmark 1 Benchmark 1 Prevent Dis
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Benchmark 1 Prevent Displacement an
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Benchmark 2 Raise National Awarenes
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Conclusion Benchmark 2 Raise Nation
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Benchmark 3 Data Collection on Inte
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—Current location and location of
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its registration rolls intra-urban
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and profiling of three types of IDP
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the government of Afghanistan under
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Benchmark 4 Training on the Rights
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actions of DRC authorities and nong
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the provision of technical support
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Justice, National Cohesion and Cons
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February 2010; one outcome of the t
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Benchmark 5 Ensure a Legal Framewor
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Page 183 and 184: Conclusion As indicated in the intr
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Benchmark 12 Cooperation with Inter
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North Darfur, Sudan/ A woman collec
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CHAPTER 2 Case Studies Georgia, Ken
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Georgia From Solidarity to Solution
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Kenya National Response to Internal
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Afghanistan Internal Displacement i
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Sri Lanka Gaps in the Government Re
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Domestic Financing Foreign financin
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This study seeks to shed light on h
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CHAPTER 3 Translating National Resp
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For each country case study, the ex
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5 6 Ensure a Legal Framework for Up
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9 9 a) Facilitate IDPs’ Participa
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12 Cooperate with International Com
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