Global Classroom 2022 on Internal Displacement will kick off in Pretoria on 30 May 2022

Hosted by: Global Campus Africa / The Master’s Programme in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa (HRDA), University of Pretoria

Dates: 30 May - 3 June 2022, 10:00-15:30 CEST

Keynote speaker: Cecilia Jimenez Damary, UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, Monday, 30 May 11:30 CEST

 

This year the Global Classroom, one of our flagship research and networking programmes, returns to  in presence! We will be hosted by our friends from the University of Pretoria at the amazing Future Africa Campus. The weeklong event will start on 30 May and focus on internal displacement, a rising global concern. According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC), there were 55 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) by the end of 2020 across 59 countries and territories, the highest ever recorded. 

 

Internal displacement is a result of a combination of conflict and violence, in addition to the compounding impacts of climatic disasters on people’s lives and livelihoods. As stated, more people live in internal displacement worldwide than ever before, in part, because of the failures of authorities to respect and fulfil their obligations under international law. The main international law framework at the international level is the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement presented by the Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Internally Displaced Persons, Francis Deng, to the UN Commission on Human Rights in 1998. There is still no UN treaty specifically on internally displaced persons (IDPs), with the UN Refugee Convention of 1951, as read with the 1967 Protocol, only applicable to cross-border refugees. Despite the absence of a treaty basis, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, is the UN lead agency in relation to the protection of IDPs (UNHCR 2021b). 

 

The 2022 Global Classroom will bring over 50 participants - selected students and researchers - who will present their findings on the topic. Seven regional teams (from Africa, the Arab World, Asia Pacific, Caucasus, Latin America & Caribbean, Europe and South East Europe) will reflect on the link between conflict and violence, the COVID-19 pandemic and climatic disasters and their impacts on internal displacement. They will also examine the importance of social networks and ties in building community resilience and coping mechanisms – agency and adaptive capacity of internally displaced persons. 

 

The goal of the 2022 Global Classroom is to generate a clear picture of the demographic characteristics of IDPs to inform targeted responses that address their specific needs and risks – by gender, age, location – rural or urban settlements and other demographic characteristics. The students’ research output will be published in the Global Campus Human Rights Journal.

 

The event is hybrid. Please register below

 

In-person event: https://forms.gle/WMX3JnCrhRoGRTc67 

Online event: zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_zw5PxvomRAmN7bT90s0LfA

 

For more information: manuela.pegoraro@gchumanrights.org