From Kampala to Istanbul: Advancing global accountability for IDPs through law and policy making

The report of the UN Secretary General for the World Humanitarian Summit outlines a series of actions states are encouraged to take with a view to addressing displacement in a responsible way. In this framework the Agenda for Humanity, attached to the Report, stresses the need for law and policy making efforts at regional and national level. This paper provides a reflection on the advancements made by the Kampala Convention in clarifying roles and responsibilities for states and other actors in responding to displacement, takes stock of the lessons learned from the process and analyses its remaining challenges with a view to verifying the replicability of the Convention in different regions Additionally, it looks at the adoption and the implementation of national laws and policies as a crucial step to ensure responsibility for IDPs which should not be conceived in isolation from the establishment of regional standards. IDMC hopes to stimulate discussions among global policy makers to ensure that specific commitments on this theme are made in Istanbul and that an effective oversight is granted in the coming years.