Session 2.1

Background

On 13 October 2015, over 100 governmental delegations came together in Geneva, Switzerland to endorse the Nansen Initiative Agenda for the Protection of Cross-Border Displaced Persons in the Context of Disasters and Climate Change (Protection Agenda/NIPA) and make a commitment towards preventing and addressing disaster displacement. In the 10 years since, progress has been made across different policy areas relevant to preventing and addressing disaster displacement as well as providing protection and solutions for disaster displaced persons. This has been achieved through the efforts of UN Member States, International and Regional Organizations, civil society and Non-Governmental Organizations, across all regions of the world. Global and regional frameworks on DRR, human mobility, and climate change today explicitly refer to displacement, and do so in a nuanced, comprehensive manner that provides a strong basis for addressing risks associated with disaster displacement in area at risk of disasters and the adverse effects of climate change, and for protecting those displaced internally and across borders.

However, these past 10 yeas have also seen ever increasing numbers of displacements related to the adverse impacts of climate change, disasters caused by natural hazards and environmental degradation. Clearly, more work needs to be done to support the further development of policies and frameworks, and their operationalization from the global to the local levels. The proposed panel will bring together experts from different areas of work (research, policy, operations) to reflect and appreciate how much the context and prospects for multilateral initiatives on disaster displacement have changed since 2015, and discuss how to continue relevant work in the coming years and decades.

The proposed panel shall also be part of the commemorations of the 10-year anniversary of the launch of the NIPA (NIPA+10) – a series of virtual and in-person events organized around the world in 2025 to present the NIPA, its approach and toolkit to a new generation of practitioners and policy-makers, and engage them in the implementation of work on disaster displacement. Other events under this initiative include: a movie screening in Geneva (June 2025); a podcast; a chapter on NIPA+10 in in a new book to be published by Routledge in 2026; virtual sessions with the PDD Advisory Committee on different topics; a side event at UNHCR ExCom in October 2025 and an event at the GRF Progress Review meeting in December 2025; an event in Berlin in the second half of 2025.

Objectives of this panel

The objectives of the proposed panel include:

1. To bring experts from the policy, research and operations domain (and from different parts of the world) together to take stock of the advances made on disaster displacement from 2012 to present.

2. To assess the implementation of the recommendations of the NIPA.

3. To identify priority areas for future action and identify priorities to overcome remaining challenges and gaps for the protection of persons displaced in the context of disasters and the adverse effects of climate change.

Proposed structure of the panel

The proposed panel will last 90 minutes. It will consist of a moderated exchange around the topics delineated above among some world-renowned experts and scholars on this topic. Speakers (all TBC depending on the actual slot allocated, if the application is successful) include:

1. Prof Walter Kälin, Envoy of the Chair of the Platform on Disaster Displacement;

2. Prof Jane McAdam, UNSW Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law;

3. Ms Alexandra Bilak, Director, Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre;

4. Ms Paula Gaviria Betancour, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons.

The discussion will be facilitated by Mr Atle Solberg (Head of the Secretariat of the Platform on Disaster Displacement).