Public and Political Participation of Internally Displaced Persons

Political and public participation rights play a crucial role in the promotion of democratic governance, the rule of law, social inclusion and economic development, as well as in the advancement of human rights. The right to directly and indirectly participate in political and public life empowers individuals and groups. Participation rights are also inextricably linked to other human rights such as the rights to peaceful assembly and association, freedom of expression and opinion and the rights to education and to information.

Around the world, however, IDPs face a number of obstacles to exercising their right to public and political participation. The disenfranchisement of the internally displaced not only infringes their rights, it can exacerbate the social, political and economic marginalization that they typically experience.

In an effort to better understand and address obstacles facing IDPs’ public and political participation, GPC, in collaboration with The Carter Center, held a round-table in Amman – Jordan in October 2018 with the objective of: 

• Identifying current barriers and challenges to the political participation of IDPs;
• Discussing good practices in increasing political participation of IDPs;
• Strengthening links between election observers, human rights officers and protection cluster coordinators and members prior to, during and after electoral processes, including to ensure optimal participation of IDPs to such electoral processes;
• Identifying how the GP20 Plan of Action can support the above efforts; and
• Exploring areas for greater collaboration on issues related to IDP political participation, as outlined in the Human Rights and Election Standards Plan of Action.