Policy Brief from Bangladesh – The National Strategy on Internal Displacement Management and its Action Plan

Background

In 2021, Bangladesh developed a National Strategy on Internal Displacement Management[1] to address disaster and climate induced internal displacement. Following a whole-of-society and rights-based approach, its goal is to adopt both preventive and adaptive measures to avert and minimize the scope of internal displacement. The Strategy entails a long-term solution through better resource management, urban planning, technological innovations, infrastructure strengthening, and sustainable livelihoods for the most vulnerable population.

The National Strategy draws on international good practices – the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, United Nations (UN) Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the Nansen Initiative Agenda for the Protection of Cross-Border Displaced Persons in the Context of Disasters and Climate Change (Nansen Initiative Protection Agenda). The Strategy covers all phases of displacement – prevention, protection during displacement, and durable solutions. It also provides an institutional framework to operationalize the Strategy. By 2022, the concerned ministry – the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief (MoDMR) – had also rolled out an action plan to implement the Strategy, the National Action Plan (2022-2042) to Implement the National Strategy on Internal Displacement[2]. The Strategy and the Action Plan suggest for the establishment of an inter-ministerial and inter-agency National Taskforce (NT) on Displacement to review the implementation. The NT along with MoDMR, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), and Ministry of Land (MoL), includes twenty-four other relevant ministries.

The Strategy and Action Plan are inclusive to all sections of society (ethnicity, religion, gender, age, disability, geographic location etc.). Both of these documents plan for creating infrastructure, maintaining the vital eco-system, reducing scope of displacement and out migration. At the same time, they outline adaptation programmes to accommodate new migrants in urban and rural out migrants’ locations. The Strategy and Action Plan suggest pathways for decentralization of urban growth centers and plans for safe and sustainable cities that are inclusive of new migrants. The emphasis is on better understanding of displacement risk to support decision making through disaggregated data reflecting the specific needs of groups of displaced people. More importantly, involvement of the private sector is also encouraged.

Main Features of the 2021 National Strategy

Prevention of Displacement: The Strategy emphasizes Prevention based on the appreciation of the fact that many forms of displacement can be averted or minimized. Anticipatory preventive measures reduce costs by 75% in comparison to recovery investments. To minimize displacement, five areas are identified in the National Strategy. These are: 1. Generate knowledge to understand risks; 2. Ensure adequate investment in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation; 3. Strengthen climate/disaster risk governance; 4. Creation of decent employment through promoting and encouraging decentralization of urban growth centers; and 5. Climate-disaster risk responsive land use planning with identification of highly vulnerable zones. 44 targets are set to achieve the goal of prevention of displacement. Relevant rights in this respect are: ‘non-discrimination and equality’, ‘right to safety’, ‘right to life’, ‘right to development’, ‘right to shelter’, ‘right to work’, ‘right to participation’, and ‘right to information’.

Protection During Displacement: The Strategy highlights strengthening humanitarian and disaster relief assistance to improve the Protection of internally displaced persons (IDPs). Two major areas of work in this respect are 1. Management of emergency response, and 2. Protection of fundamental rights of IDPs during displacement. Both the subsections designed in the National Strategy are based on the MoDMR’s Standing Orders on Disaster 2019 (Revised SOD-2019). 38 targets are set under these two subsections to achieve protection during displacement. Relevant rights of the  displaced include: ‘non-discrimination and equality’, ‘right to life’, ‘right to physical and moral integrity’, ‘right to liberty and security’, ‘right to the freedom movement and residence’, ‘right to adequate housing and access to land’, ‘right to livelihood’, ‘right to water, food, clothes, and education’, ‘right to healthcare’, ‘right to reproductive health’, and ‘right to protection of the family’.

Durable Solutions: Following the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Framework on Durable Solutions for Internally Displaced Persons, the Strategy commits itself to avoid protracted situations of displacement by ensuring sustainable return. All three types of sustainable return described in the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement have been incorporated. These are: 1. Return to place of origin when the displaced families or communities, is over; 2. Local level integration in cases where displaced people have temporarily or semi-permanently resettled themselves; 3. When return or local level integration is not feasible then resettlement of individual families or communities in planned relocation sites. 30 targets are set to achieve the goals of return, local integration, and planned relocation. Examples of relevant rights are: ‘right to security of tenure’, ‘right to not to be arbitrarily evicted’, ‘right to land and rights in land’, ‘right to property’, ‘right to privacy’, ‘right to Housing, Land, and Property (HLP) restitution/compensation following forced displacement’, ‘right to choose one’s residence, and procedural rights’.

The National Action Plan (2022-2042) to Implement the National Strategy on Internal Displacement Management

To achieve the 112 targets of the National Strategy, the National Action Plan suggests a step-by-step implementation plan. In the first step, it presents the key individual targets of the 2021 National Strategy, and then (second step) identifies various activities that are required to implement the targets. The third step locates the ministry that would lead to the implementation of the concerned activities.

Inter-ministerial and inter-agency collaboration is essential for any successful action. Step four, therefore identifies the relevant ministries, agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), development partners and humanitarian actors who would support the lead ministry in implementation. Step five draws necessary indicators to evaluate the progress and achievement of the implementation which ministry should lead and which should be the other associate organizations, what should be the indicators and timeframe required to implement these activities. The above diagram illustrates implementation plan.

Tasks Ahead

• A National Task Force on Displacement (NTFoD) needs to be established as suggested in the National Strategy.
• A common multi-stakeholder platform must be initiated where the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) as the policy maker, NGOs, Private Organizations, researchers, volunteers, and experts can jointly pursue the implementation the Strategy and Action Plan.
• A Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) must be established to suggest innovative technical solutions.
• Local level institutions, such as – District Development Coordination Committee (DDCC), and Upazila Development Coordination Committee (UzDCC), need to include displacement on their regular agenda of discussion.
• For mobilization of internal resources, a Displacement Trust Fund has to be created to finance the implementation of the Action Plan from the National Budget. Additionally, the NTFoOD needs to draw funds from Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund.
• Development partners need to perceive displacement as a development issue not a humanitarian one.

Many of the development partners are designing their programmes with major emphasis on climate change adaptation. Advocacy should be conducted for integrating the implementation of process. The last step sets the timeframe. The timeframe shows that some of the activities can be achieved in a relatively short time, but some may require as much as 20 years. Through day-long workshops, representatives of different ministries and civil society organizations have identified the Action Plan in their future programs related to climate change, SDGs achievement etc.

• As part of climate justice, GoB requires global cooperation and concessional access to Green Climate Funds, Climate Bridge Funds and technology transfer to implement the Strategy as per the Action Plan.
• The global community can learn from the government and people of Bangladesh on how they are continuously attempting to transform vulnerabilities of displacement into opportunities.

Acknowledgement

This policy brief was prepared by Dr. Tasneem Siddiqui, Tamim Billah, Md. Ekhtekharul Islam, and Marzia Islam. The Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) acknowledges their contribution. It is part of RMMRU’s component of ‘Pilot Assessment and Interventions to Avert, Minimize Displacement in Climate-Stressed Districts of Bangladesh’ under the Project on “Action and Support to Avert, Minimize and Address Displacement Related to the Adverse Effects of Climate Change’’ (PAMAD). The PAMAD is implemented with the generous support from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) through the Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD) and implemented in Bangladesh by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), RMMRU, and the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD). RMMRU expresses its appreciation to its supporting and other implementing partners. RMMRU especially thanks Lorenzo Guadagno from the PDD for editing Policy Brief-38. This policy brief was designed by Md. Parvez Alam, Senior Officer (IT and Communications), RMMRU.

Cover photo: Illustration of displacement in the eyes of school children from Satkhira, RMMRU (2024) 

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