Top adviser — Global Issues

UN Special Adviser on Solutions to Internal Displacement Robert Piper was delivering his final press briefing at UN Headquarters in New York before concluding his mandate.

“There are around 76 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in the world today, 76 million people who have lost their homes, their livelihoods, their assets, their community because of wars, because of disasters, because of criminal violence,” he told correspondents.

Internally displaced people are “relatively invisible despite their numbers, unlike refugees and migrants,” Mr. Piper emphasised. Their numbers have doubled in the last ten years.

“Tens of millions of displaced people do not get home quickly, especially when they’ve been displaced by conflict,” Mr Piper emphasised, adding that “they get stuck in displacement”.

‘Major milestone’ in investments

The Secretary-General commissioned a high-level panel to advise him in 2021, focusing on this growing pattern of protracted displacement. To fix this issue, the panel insisted that only national governments can provide long term fixes.

“The right kind of investments, more development, more capacity building, less substitution, less short-term fixes,” said Mr. Piper.

In a positive development, governments have demonstrated increased commitment to addressing the crisis, he continued.

Iraq, Libya, Columbia, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Mozambique, and Somalia have collectively pledged to help over 11.5 million internally displaced persons find solutions. Some countries have backed these commitments with substantial funding – Iraq and Libya will fully fund their solutions processes, while Columbia is committing approximately $1 billion annually.

Reaping the rewards

“We are starting to see the results when governments take that responsibility seriously,” the Special advisor noted, pointing to recent initiatives such as Somalia’s commitment of $140 million for land purchases to facilitate displaced people’s integration.

In Nigeria’s northeastern states, governances have allocated specific portions of their revenue to address displacement, with the Governor of Borno state, committing 15 per cent of revenue for the next five years to this cause.

New laws and policies on internal displacement have been implemented in various countries – from Chad to Nigeria to the Philippines – demonstrating growing national ownership of the issue.

Challenges amid rising numbers

Despite progress, significant issues remain. The number of IDPs has doubled in just a decade with approximately 20 million new IDPs joining the long-term displaced since 2019.

The Special Adviser also highlighted specific areas where solutions cannot currently be implemented: “We cannot apply our model in Myanmar at the moment, for example, or in Gaza, where 85 percent of the population has been deliberately, repeatedly displaced by Israeli government acts”.

Strengthened response

Prevention tools need strengthening, particularly in light of climate change impacts and the need for better conflict prevention and disaster risk reduction.

Mr Piper said new ideas were being put into motion to address internal displacement including a solutions fund, strengthened country teams and increased development and peacebuilding assets. International financial institutions have also stepped up their involvement, with both the World Bank and The African Development Bank introducing IDP solutions indicators into their corporate scorecards.

The issue has gained increased visibility in international forums, including the climate COPs, the World Bank’s Fragility Forum, and the World Urban Forum. A group of 30-member states has formed to support these efforts, while Children’s Fund, UNICEF, and UN migration agency, IOM, have released new analyses on children and climate displacement.

Return to normal

Additionally, the humanitarian response remains robust, with UN operations reaching 50 million IDPs with assistance in 2023, while country-based pool funds assisted nearly 12 million displaced people.

However, reflecting on his tenure and the path forward, the Special Advisor warned that “we need to get better at preventing new displacements. Our prevention tools are not up to task”.

He concluded that “the core task is to keep saving lives, while we also help governments wherever possible, to build exit ramps for their displaced citizens back from crises to some sense of normality and stability”.