The Role of Law and Policy in Fostering Responsibility and Accountability of Governments Towards Internally Displaced Persons

Abstract

Over the last decades, the numbers of laws and policies on internal displacement at the domestic level have grown significantly. This momentum began with the creation of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement in 1998 and has accelerated with regional steps such as the Kampala Convention. While the landscape of national laws and regional frameworks on internal displacement has flourished, overall implementation has been problematic. In view of this reality, it is important to examine where laws and policies have been successfully implemented in order to understand what shapes political will and in particular, how responsibility and accountability are triggered at national level. This article addresses this issue. Following an analysis of laws and policies on internal displacement, we set out four trigger points that lead to successful legal and policy implementation.