The IDP in international law: debates, developments and prospects
Dr David James Cantor (Refugee Law Initiative)
Wednesday, 28 February 2018, 5pm to 6.30pm
Seminar Room 3, Oxford Department of International Development, 3 Mansfield Road, Oxford, OX1 3TB
Hosted by Refugee Studies Centre
Public Seminar Series, Hilary term 2018
Series convenor: Dr Lilian Tsourdi
about the seminar
Who cares about IDP law? Unlike refugees and other special interest groups that benefit from dedicated status under international law, IDP protection tends to be viewed as a matter of policy rather than law. Indeed, the 1998 UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement are merely 'soft law'. Moreover, scholarly interest in IDPs has dipped, especially since the 2015 European refugee 'crisis'.
Against this unpromising backdrop, the talk draws on a diverse set of developments over the twenty years since the drafting of the Guiding Principles to argue that a distinct field of IDP law is now emerging. It suggests that this has a number of intriguing implications for debates about IDP protection, its relationship to refugee protection and international law more generally.
about the speaker
Dr David James Cantor is Director of the Refugee Law Initiative and Reader in Human Rights Law, School of Advanced Study, University of London.
Dr Cantor researches on the protection of refugees and other displaced persons. He has carried out in-depth fieldwork on displacement, armed conflict and organised violence in Colombia and across Latin America, and is a recognised specialist in this field. David has a particular interest in refugee law, human rights law and certain aspects of the international law of armed conflict. He previously worked for the Refugee Legal Centre and UNHCR, and is currently the Director of the Refugee Law Initiative and an Economic and Social Research Council Future Research Leader.