From Responsibility to Response: Assessing National - Brookings

Benchmark 10 Establish the Conditions and Provide the Means for IDPs to Secure Durable Solutions
Defender and the international community, including
UNHCR, also criticized the process. 141 Internationally
endorsed standard operating procedures for such cases
since have been developed by the government.
The issue of restitution of housing, land and property
left behind in IDPs’ place of origin also has long been an
important and often high-profile element of the national
approach to resolving the situation of IDPs. Efforts have
been made to address these issues for both IDPs from
Abkhazia and those from South Ossetia, in the former
case through a property registration campaign and in
the latter case through a consensus among the parties
to the conflict for a property restitution mechanism.
Nevertheless, the issue remains unresolved and a major
sticking point amid reports of illegal property occupation
and even illegal transfers of title in IDPs’ absence.
In the case of the IDPs displaced by the August 2008
conflict, most households whose homes were destroyed
during the hostilities received $15,000 from the government
to rebuild their homes; however, little reconstruction
has taken place as many persons who received
assistance fear resumption of hostilities or general insecurity
and thus are reluctant to invest in rebuilding their
homes in the context of a fragile cease-fire agreement. 142
According to a survey in 2010 by the Caucasus Research
Resource Centers and Conciliation Resources, when
asked whether they would like to return, Georgians who
were displaced from their homes by the 1992–93 war
in Abkhazia overwhelmingly responded affirmatively.
But upon further questioning they clarified that certain
requirements would need to be met first, including
those for safety, property restitution and, most notable,
the return of Abkhazia to Georgia’s effective territorial
control. Moreover, in the interim they stated that they
desperately need decent living conditions and support
141 “Statement of Public Defender of Georgia Regarding
Eviction of Internally Displaced Persons,” 17 August 2010
(www.ombudsman.ge); “UNHCR Concerned Over IDPs
Eviction Process,” 24 August 2010.
142 Amnesty International, In the Waiting Room: Internally
Displaced People in Georgia (August 2010), p. 44 (www.
amnesty.org). p. 14.
155
for livelihoods in the communities where they have
lived for years as IDPs. 143
Conclusion
Facilitating and supporting durable solutions to displacement
is a key expression of a government’s responsibility
for internally displaced persons and perhaps the
area in which government commitment to addressing
displacement becomes most apparent. Resolving displacement
requires a multifaceted effort, which calls for
the involvement of a number of different ministries and
offices across a range of fields (including human rights,
humanitarian issues, security, economic development,
justice and reconciliation, social protection and education)
in a coordinated effort that has a clear strategy,
solid political leadership and the resources as well as
time needed to achieve resolution.
What is striking is that in all three scenarios set out
in this chapter—resolution of the conflict causing displacement,
ongoing conflict or violence, or so-called
“frozen” conflict—it is evident that governments, with
the exception of those of the Democratic Republic of
the Congo and Myanmar, have taken certain steps to
achieve durable solutions. That illustrates that putting
creating conditions for durable solutions need not—and
should not—wait for an official end to conflict. Certain
groundwork, if only at the legal and policy levels, can
be done well in advance, as has been done in Colombia.
At the same time, it is equally striking that in none of
the three scenarios have durable solutions to displacement
been fully achieved in the countries studied. That
underscores that achieving durable solutions requires
considerable time, effort and resources and therefore
requires the sustained commitment of the government.
Supporting solutions also requires the long-term
143 See the “IDPs in Georgia Survey” findings on Georgians
displaced from their homes by the 1992–93 war in
Abkhazia in Magdalena Frichova Grono, Displacement
in Georgia: IDP Attitudes to Conflict, Return and Justice:
An Analysis of Survey Findings (London: Conciliation
Resources, April 2011), p. 6 (www.c-r.org).