Durable Displacement, the Search for Solutions, Promising Programs and Strategies

The problem of prolonged displacement, experienced by as many as 100 million people globally in 2022, has not generated any meaningful and durable solutions in recent years. In a special collection of cutting-edge work gathered by the Journal on Migration and Human Security, editors Elizabeth Ferris and Donald Kerwin discuss the causes and consequences of forced displacement, the failure of traditional solutions, and the need for new strategies to address the growing problem. They also summarize the ten papers that appear in this special issue, each of which examines a displaced group such as Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh or Syrians in Turkey. The authors then try to synthesize a set of recommendations from the ten papers that might help to lessen or alleviate the problem. The resourcefulness and initiative of persons in protracted displacement was a recurring theme, making the formation of refugee-led organizations an important strategy. The authors also attached great importance to the economic integration of refugees in countries of first asylum, and suggested that refugee-serving agencies might be better off funding care and maintenance operations, rather than trying to relocate people to other countries. The authors also condemned “the failure of sovereign states to create the conditions that would allow residents to remain in their states” even in times of internal conflict.

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