Development Award: Interdisciplinary Network on Internal Displacement, Conflict and Protection

全球估计有4000万境内流离失所者，其中绝大多数生活在受冲突影响的低收入和中等收入国家，这些境内流离失所者像难民一样被迫逃离家园。但是，与难民不同的是，国内流离失所者仍然留在自己的国家，往往受到迫使他们流离失所的同一武装团体的摆布。因此，国内流离失所者获得免受暴力或其他侵犯人权风险等危险的“保护”的机会可能相当有限。此外，“权宜之计”的人道主义反应往往使国内流离失所者陷入长期的贫困循环。在许多小岛屿发展中国家，冲突造成的国内流离失所不仅是一个严重的保护问题，也是一个根深蒂固的发展挑战。迫切需要提供基于证据的创新解决办法，以改善对境内流离失所者的保护。然而，关于这个话题的新思维仍然难以捉摸。从某种程度上说，自本世纪头十年中期以来，这反映了缺乏关于冲突情况下境内流离失所者保护的强有力和对背景敏感的当地研究。为了弥补这一不足，并正视这一发展挑战，我们提议创建一个关于国内流离失所、冲突和保护的跨学科网络(INDCAP)。在英国以及在非洲、拉丁美洲和中东受冲突影响的LMIC中，我们入围的四年网络项目将旨在促进关于国内流离失所情况下的保护的开创性研究，并建立证据基础。为了做出创新的研究贡献，该项目追求三个主要目标：1.就这一发展挑战创建一个新的全球研究社区。关于国内流离失所的研究目前既不一致又不完整，尽管全球境内流离失所的规模很大，而且涉及到严峻的保护挑战；2.与研究人员(学术、非政府组织、社区等)进行能力建设。在小岛屿发展中国家加强地方知识的生产、影响和公众参与，以应对冲突期间境内流离失所所带来的社会、法律和业务保护挑战；3.领导和促进前沿跨学科研究，展示艺术和人文学科如何与社会科学和STEM学科合作，为制定针对冲突和流离失所问题中的保护挑战的背景敏感解决办法作出贡献。目前为期一年的发展奖(DA)项目为通过INDCAP伙伴的网络建设活动综合方案实现这三个主要目标奠定了基础。这些DA项目活动由项目伙伴共同设计，以巩固英国和小岛屿发展中国家之间在保护、冲突和流离失所问题研究方面的公平和可持续的伙伴关系。计划的活动侧重于三个主要工作领域：(1)促进交叉研究发展；(2)促进网络竞标的发展；(3)促进由此产生的网络的可持续遗产。INDCAP DA项目是领先的艺术、人文和社会研究中心之间的国际合作：伦敦大学高级研究学院难民法倡议的‘IDP研究方案’；伯明翰大学(联合王国)人文和人权教席；比勒陀利亚大学人权中心(南非)；安第斯大学社会法律研究中心(哥伦比亚)；这些专门研究中心的专门知识、联系人和网络是这个初期网络成功的基础，它吸引了来自英国、非洲、拉丁美洲和中东的大学、研究机构和民间社会的研究人员，以及受国内流离失所严重影响的小岛屿发展中国家的关键保护政策制定者。

The vast majority of the estimated 40 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) globally live in conflict-affected low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).Like refugees, these IDPs have been forced to flee their homes. But, unlike refugees, IDPs remain within their own country, often at the mercy of the same armed groups that forced them to displace in the first place. The opportunities for IDPs to access 'protection' from dangers such as the risk of violence or other human rights violations can thus be quite limited.Moreover, the 'stop-gap' humanitarian response often traps IDPs, who have left behind homes and belongings, in long-term cycles of poverty. In many LMICs, internal displacement due to conflict is not only a serious protection concern but also an entrenched development challenge.There is an acute need to provide innovative evidence-based solutions to improve the protection of IDPs. However, new thinking on this topic remains elusive. In part, since the mid-2000s, this reflects a lack of robust and context-sensitive local research on IDP protection in situations of conflict.To remedy this shortcoming, and squarely address this development challenge, we propose to create an Interdisciplinary Network on Internal Displacement, Conflict and Protection (INDCaP).In the UK and in LMICs affected by conflict in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, our shortlisted four-year Network+ project will aim to promote pioneering research, and develop the evidence base, on 'protection' in contexts of internal displacement.To make an innovative research contribution, that project pursues three main objectives:1. Creating a new global research community on this development challenge. Research around internal displacement is currently both disparate and fragmentary, despite the vast scale of such displacement globally and the acute protection challenges involved;2. Capacity-building with researchers (academic, NGO, community-based etc.) in LMICs to enhance local knowledge production, impact and public engagement on the societal, legal and operational protection challenges of internal displacement during conflict;3. Leading and promoting cutting-edge interdisciplinary research to showcase how arts and humanities disciplines, working with the social sciences and STEM subjects, can contribute to crafting context-sensitive solutions to protection challenges in conflict and displacement.The present one-year Development Award (DA) project lays the groundwork for pursuing these three main objectives through an integrated programme of network-building activities by INDCaP partners.These DA project activities are jointly-designed by project partners as a way to consolidate equitable and sustainable partnerships between UK and LMICs for research on protection, conflict and displacement. The planned activities focus on three main areas of work: (i) promoting cross-cutting research development; (ii) allowing development of the Network+ bid; and (iii) facilitating sustainable legacies for the resulting network.The INDCaP DA project is an international collaboration between leading arts, humanities and social research centres: the 'IDP research programme' at the Refugee Law Initiative, School of Advanced Study, University of London (UK); Chair in Humanities and Human Rights of the University of Birmingham (UK); Centre for Human Rights of the University of Pretoria (South Africa); Centre for Socio-legal Research of University of the Andes (Colombia); and Qperspective social research consultancy (Jordan).The expertise, contacts and networks of these specialised research centres underpin the success of this incipient network, which draws in researchers from universities, research institutions and civil society in the UK, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, as well as key protection policy-makers from LMICs seriously affected by internal displacement.