290006 PS The challenge of protracted displacement (2020S)

While the movement of refugees is often at the focus of public and policy debate, less attention is dedicated to the large share of forcibly displaced people – both refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) – who are stuck in so called ‘protracted displacement situations’. People who are experiencing protracted displacement are living in situations of high vulnerability, legal insecurity, dependency and immobility, due to continuous cycles of displacement and a lack of durable solutions available to them. Despite renewed efforts, states and other actors involved in the global protection regime struggle to provide long-term solutions for displaced people. The displaced are nonetheless not passive, but engaged in creating and finding solutions on their own as numerous studies on refugee’s everyday lives in Asia and Africa have shown. Recent research also points to the relevance of multiple local and translocal social networks, which can thus become part of a solution to protracted displacement.

In the seminar, which will take place in format of an opening session (on 24.04.) followed by two 1½ day blocks (08./09.05.2020 and 05./06.06.2020), we will depart from conceptualizing forced displacement with its various facets to then jointly develop a better understanding of protracted displacement through discussions of
(1) definitions, concepts and theories that help us to (re)conceptualize the notion of protracted displacement,
(2) historical examples and current empirical case studies that give insights into how displaced people are experiencing protractedness, and
(3) current policy frameworks at different scale levels (from state policies and interventions, to EU strategies and the Global Compact for Refugees) that try to find ‘durable solutions’ to protracted displacement.