Abhatoo - Centre Nationale de Documentation

For the first time since World War II, the number of refugees, asylum-seekers and internally displaced persons (IDPs) worldwide has exceeded 51 million people. The time refugees spend in exile is now estimated to be approaching 20 years on average. While each displacement situation around the world is unique, all protracted refugee and IDP situations have in common the absence, in a foreseeable future, of an end to displacement or of the possibility for people to rebuild their lives in dignity. As a result, people remain in limbo for many years, deprived of legal status and of their basic rights, facing poverty and insecurity. However, long-term displacement situations have traditionally been addressed by the international community as a humanitarian dilemma rather than a development challenge. This no longer is an adequate response. As a leading political, humanitarian and development actor, the European Union has a critical role to play in supporting innovative and comprehensive solutions to protracted displacement and by working with a broad range of key players to help unlock protracted situations and ensure new displacements do not become protracted. The current debate within the European Commission around the need to adopt a new approach to address the humanitarian development nexus when dealing with refugees and IDPs and to more coherently link the different tools of its external policies, as reflected in the Comprehensive Approach to External Conflict and Crises and in the Resilience Action Plan, suggests there is momentum for the EU to take a leading role in elaborating comprehensive solutions to prevent and unlock protracted displacement. On the basis of concrete examples of conducive conditions and actions that are considered as key drivers promoting solutions, this paper suggests that the EU should systematically include protracted displacement into political, development and humanitarian strategies and foster coherence of EU interventions on this issue around the world, while following a three-track approach:
1. Addressing refugee and IDP rights and needs through mainstreaming in key development sectors;
2. Addressing specific issues and vulnerabilities through targeted interventions;
3. Increasing mainstreaming of refugee and IDP rights and needs as one of the cross-cutting issues to consider in all programmes and projects funded through EU external action.