From Responsibility to Response: Assessing National - Brookings

Benchmark 10 Establish the Conditions and Provide the Means for IDPs to Secure Durable Solutions
Countries in which the conflict is “frozen”:
Active fighting has ceased but a political
settlement remains
In Turkey, while the government has worked to establish
conditions to enable durable solutions for IDPs, especially
through its Return to Village and Rehabilitation
Project (RVRP), initiated in 1994, and the Van Action
Plan (2006), several factors hinder the attainment of
durable solutions for the approximately 1 million IDPs
in the country. Obstacles include the continued existence
in areas of return of the paramilitary provincial
and voluntary militia called “village guards,” who often
were implicated in the initial displacement; landmines
and unexploded ordnance; armed clashes that have occurred
intermittently since 2004; with some exceptions,
lack of adequate public infrastructure; and limited economic
opportunities. 125
125 See, for example, Council of Europe, Commissioner
for Human Rights, Report: Thomas Hammarber,
Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of
Europe Following His Visit to Turkey on 28 June– 3
July 2009, 1 October 2009 (www.commissioner.coe.
int); European Commission, 2003 Regular Report on
Turkey’s Progress Towards Accession (http://ec.europa.
eu/enlargement/archives/pdf/key_documents/2003/
rr_tk_final_en.pdf); UN Commission on Human Rights,
Report of the Representative of the Secretary-General on
Internally Displaced Persons, Mr. Francis Deng, Submitted
Pursuant to Commission on Human Rights Resolution
2002/56—Addendum: Profiles in Displacement: Turkey,
E/CN.4/2003/86/Add.2, 27 November 2002 (www2.
ohchr.org/english/issues/idp/visits.htm); OHCHR,
“Representative of the UN Secretary-General on the
Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons Sees New
Hope for the Internally Displaced Persons in Turkey,”
Press release, 6 May 2005 (www.brookings.edu/projects/
idp/RSG-Press-Releases/20050506_turkeypr.aspx);
UNDP, “Working Visit by the Representative of the UN
Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally
Displaced Persons to Turkey, 28 September–1 October
2006: Conclusions and Recommendations,” 2006 (www.
undp.org.tr/Gozlem2.aspx?WebSayfaNo=726).
151
According to official government figures, the Return to
Village and Rehabilitation Project had been implemented
in fourteen eastern and southeastern provinces as of
September 2009 and, as of July 2009, over 150,000 IDPs
had returned to their original places of residence. 126
However, there are concerns about the reliability of the
government’s statistics on return. For example, Human
Rights Watch has suggested that they have been inflated
in some instances or otherwise manipulated, including
by counting returned village guards who then confiscate
the property of evicted villagers as “returnees.” 127
According to a survey by Hacettepe University in 2006,
120,000 IDPs had returned, representing only 10 percent
of the IDP population. Moreover, the vast majority
of returnees surveyed (88 percent) had returned without
assistance from the government and about half of them
were not aware of their entitlements under the RVRP or
the Law on Compensation. 128
Intended to complement the RVRP and other IDP assistance
mechanisms, the Van Action Plan supports
reconstruction and durable solutions to displacement
in Van Province. The plan, developed in collaboration
with UNDP, represents a significant step toward addressing
IDP issues and was welcomed by RSG Kälin.
One of the strengths of the plan is that given that many
IDPs in urban areas do not want to return, it also provides
measures to address urban internal displacement.
However, there are several outstanding gaps in the Van
Action Plan: it does not adequately address obstacles to
126 Also see IDMC, Turkey: Need for Continued Improvement
in Response to Protracted Displacement: A Profile of the
Internal Displacement Situation, 26 October 2009, p. 41
(ww.internal-displacement.org).
127 See Human Rights Watch, Still Critical: Prospects in 2005
for Internally Displaced Kurds in Turkey, 6 March 2005
(www.hrw.org).
128 Hacettepe University, Institute of Population Studies,
“Findings of the Turkey Migration and Internally
Displaced Population Survey,” press release, 6 December
2006 (www.hips.hacettepe.edu.tr/tgyona/press_release.
pdf), cited in IDMC, Turkey: Need for Continued
Improvement in Response to Protracted Displacement: A
Profile of the Internal Displacement Situation, 26 October
2009, p. 11 (www.internal-displacement.org).