缅北禁地

The new , guest-edited by two members of the Secretariat of the 缅北禁地Secretary-General's High Level Panel on Internal Displacement, is now out with over 20 original peer-reviewed articles from researchers, practitioners and policy-makers. Its launch event, hosted by the at the University of London on January 21 and moderated by Mark Yarnell, Research and Report Officer at the Panel's Secretariat, saw over 100 participants joining virtually to engage with Special Issue authors and the Panel鈥檚 Secretariat members to debate the state of IDP research.

In his opening remarks, Professor David Cantor, RSQ Editor-in-Chief and IDRP Director noted that while today鈥檚 IDP research is 鈥渟carce and fragmentary,鈥� there is positive academic interest in the topic with the RSQ Special Issue representing a 鈥渕ajor highpoint.鈥�

He posed the questions: 鈥淲hy is there so little research on the topic of internal displacement? And why does it matter for academic debate and practical actions?鈥�

Three of the Special Issue authors presented their findings in the event, followed by a number of interventions from the floor. Romola Adeola from the University of Pretoria spoke to the issue of IDP laws and policies while Ben Hudson from the University of Exeter discussed how state-to-state dialogue could be enhanced on internal displacement. Ligia Magalhaes of the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights delivered a presentation on the role of civil society in fostering political will to address internal displacement.

In closing the launch, the Head of the Panel鈥檚 Secretariat George Okoth-Obbo thanked all the RSQ authors and underlined the importance of their work in informing the Panel鈥檚 work and the direction of future policy debates on internal displacement. 鈥淭he thematic areas of the Special Issue are questions that the Panel is exploring,鈥� he highlighted.

鈥淭his collaboration will not end with this publication. I look forward to the time where there is a platform to propagate more systematically on IDP issues,鈥� concluded Okoth-Obbo.
 

The Refugee Survey Quarterly Special Issue was guest-edited by Greta Zeender, Head of Research and Outcomes, and Mark Yarnell, Research and Report Officer, of the Secretariat of the 缅北禁地Secretary-General's High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement.
 

to watch the webinar.

to read the RSQ Special Issue (accessible for free until the end of March 2021).