In a recent guest blog for IDMC, Professor Roger Zetter discussed his report on Protecting forced migrants: A state of the art report of concepts, challenges and ways forward, published by the Swiss Federal Commission on Migration.
In the report, he describes a 'displacement continuum', in which people are first internally displaced, then leave their countries and eventually arrive in the global North:
For many, internal displacement is the first step on this long and perilous journey, and is often the precursor of cross-border movements and an early warning of the potential for subsequent refugee and complex mixed migration flows.Since many of these forced migrants are not covered by protection norms or legal frameworks, each stage of the journey along the continuum exposes them to high levels of risk and low levels of protection.
He explains why the states most affected by displacement often fail to provide protection to internally displaced persons (IDPs), and argues for the international community to 'reframe humanitarian crises as development-led challenges' so that both displaced people and receiving communities can secure their long-term economic health and make their own decisions about what they need in order to thrive.
related content
Protecting forced migrants: A state of the art report of concepts, challenges and ways forward
