Note: The full version of this paper is available in French.

Internal displacement is not a new phenomenon in Côte d’Ivoire. Conflict and displacement in Côte d’Ivoire are linked to competition for political power, the economic downturn, and a corresponding sharp increase in poverty in a country that had previously enjoyed a comparatively high standard of development.

Natural disasters can be deadly and devastating but their frequency, intensity and unpredictability teach us valuable lessons. A look back at 2012 shows that, all around the world, it was a year of “recurring disasters.” From the drought in Africa’s Sahel to Pakistan’s third consecutive year of widespread flooding to Hurricane Sandy, Senior Fellow Elizabeth Ferris, co-director of the Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement, examines the consequences and lessons of last year’s disasters.

After several years of mega-disasters and consequent high funding for disaster response, international humanitarian disaster funding dipped to the relatively low 2009 level.

By: Megan Bradley

The study provides basic information about the work of more than 30 regional organizations involved in disaster risk management and draws comparisons and generalizations about the work of 13 of these organizations through the use of 17 indicators of effectiveness.

by Elizabeth Ferris

Much has been written about Haiti since the massive earthquake devastated the country three years ago this week. Hundreds of evaluations and thousands of reports have been written by the humanitarian community and many more by other actors. I took a quick look at our own website and was surprised to find that in the last three years I have written 18 blogs, articles and op-eds on Haiti and our small project has organized 6 events to debate issues related to Haitian relief and recovery.

Swaziland rarely tips the balance in international politics. But one month ago, Swaziland made history by becoming the fifteenth state to ratify the world’s newest human rights treaty, the African Union Convention on the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa. Known as the Kampala Convention, it is the world’s first binding agreement on internally displaced persons, or IDPs. With Swaziland’s ratification, the Convention comes into force on December 6, and it’s not a minute too soon.

Israeli troops are poised for a ground assault in Gaza, eclipsing another firestorm re-ignited in the Middle East this month when Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was asked if he wanted to return to Safed, the town he fled as a refugee in 1948. Abbas replied, “I want to see Safed. It’s my right to see it, but not to live there.”

The African Union’s Kampala Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Africa will hopefully come into force any day now. When it does, it will be the first regional treaty to comprehensively address the IDP issue, from preventing displacement to providing protection and assistance, and supporting durable solutions.