Regime-Induced Displacement and Decision-Making within the United Nations Security Council: The Cases of Northern Iraq, Kosovo, and Darfur

This project focuses on the response of the United Nations Security Council to situations of regime-induced displacement. Cases of regime-induced displacement — situations in which governments or government-sponsored actors deliberately use coercive tactics to directly or indirectly cause large numbers of their own citizens to flee a given area — can easily blur into cases of ethnic cleansing, genocide, or policide as state-sponsored violence forces large numbers of civilians to flee. A clear international response to such catastrophes is necessary, since large numbers of refugees and internally displaced persons can overwhelm humanitarian efforts, destabilize their own and neighbouring states, and increase the likelihood of civil war. While the Responsibility to Protect doctrine (R2P) provides a clear mechanism for Council involvement in the most extreme cases of regime-induced displacement its response to such crises, however, remains highly inconsistent.


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