Internally Displaced Persons’ Participation in Durable Solutions Processes in International Human Rights Law

Abstract Internally displaced persons’ (IDPs) participation in processes towards finding durable solutions has been highlighted as essential, but is often sidelined in favour of other priorities. Given international human rights law’s (IHRL) positioning of IDPs as rights-holders, its engagement of duty-bearers’ accountability, and its role as the main normative foundation for a human rights-based approach, this article aims to conceptualise IDPs’ participation in durable solutions processes in terms of IHRL. Four interconnected legal bases in IHRL are identified, namely the right to participate in public affairs; the duty to fulfil economic and social rights; the right to reparation and remedy; and collective rights. This article analyses who these frameworks envisage as participants; in which types of activities and processes; and towards which objectives. Opportunities and challenges of each legal framing are also highlighted. The article confirms a duty on States to facilitate participation in durable solutions processes to internal displacement on their territory, and outlines some of its contours based on the analysis. It also highlights potential tensions to navigate when framing participation in terms of rights generally applicable to citizens/habitual residents, on one hand, and those focusing on subsets or collectives of IDPs with particular statuses on the other.