You can read the policy brief here:

The Centre on Gender and Forced Displacement (CGFD), with the support of IDRC, organized a two-session workshop on January 23–24, 2025, in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, focusing on the challenges of statelessness, forced displacement, and migration governance in Southeast Asia. This workshop integrated academic and policy-oriented discussions, bridging theoretical frameworks with actionable policy recommendations. The workshop critically engaged with the historical legacies of colonialism, the securitization of migration, gendered vulnerabilities, and alternative governance imaginaries, with a particular emphasis on the Rohingya crisis and its broader regional implications.

Read the full report here.

Executive Summary

Myanmar has long been the primary source of displacement in Southeast Asia, with waves of conflict forcing people of different ages, genders and ethnicities to flee from their homes over decades. Refugees and people seeking asylum from Myanmar live across Southeast and South Asia, often in precarious circumstances.

This has serious impacts on the mental and physical health of those displaced. It also renders them vulnerable to human trafficking, migrant smuggling and related forms of exploitation, which in turn has security implications for the entire region.

This paper aims to unpack the current situation facing those displaced from Myanmar and offer policy proposals to improve their lives in displacement, while working towards supporting conditions in Myanmar becoming safe for repatriation in the future.

In this context, the paper identifies three key challenges facing those displaced, namely:

â—� deteriorating conditions in Myanmar making safe,
voluntary repatriation a distant possibility;
â—� inconsistent or lack of access to services for
those displaced in neighbouring countries, and
â—� an absence of regional level coordination or
leadership on refugee protection.

In 2024, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Solutions to Internal Displacement will wrap up the work on this issue begun by his High-Level Panel in 2020 and continued under his Action Agenda. These processes reflect a longstanding preoccupation that, despite decades of efforts including the 1998 UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and the humanitarian reform, the acute needs of many internally displaced persons (IDPs) remain unmet and, globally, long-term solutions to their situation appear elusive.

This conference provides a forum for researchers, practitioners, policy-makers and students from all disciplines to come together to present, debate and reflect on ‘solutions’ to internal displacement and their future. It offered the chance to develop new research agendas and collaborations. Alongside keynote presentations, it hosted ‘thematic’ and ‘open’ panel sessions to share research and analysis from academia and from policy/practice.

IDRC Research Chairs, Dr. Nyi Nyi kyaw, Dr. Abebaw Minaye, and Dr. Fouad M Fouad, presented at the “Not All IDPs are the Same: Working towards Different ‘Solutions’ for Different IDPs” thematic panel sessions.

Not All Myanmar IDPs (2011-) Are the Same

Speaker: Dr. Nyi Nyi Kyaw (IDRC Research Chair, Chiang Mai University, Thailand)

This paper will discuss three different waves of internal displacement of more than 2 million in Myanmar from 2011 until late 2023 and highlight that ethnic conflict, religious conflict, and political conflict have resulted in those waves. It will then argue that different solutions are required and must be tailed to help solve the three waves.

Seeking Solutions to Unprecedented Internal Displacement in Ethiopia

Speaker: Dr. Abebaw Minaye (IDRC Research Chair, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia)

The multidimensional plights of close to 4 million IDPs in Ethiopia have taken a back seat in the policy debates in the country. Ethiopia has not adopted adequate legal and institutional frameworks for the protection of IDPs (Djigisa, 2019). Neither does the international community pay sufficient attention to the problem. Ethiopia lacks a comprehensive dedicated framework to ameliorate the plight of IDPs. One of the most relevant provisions was the Disaster Risk Management (DRM) policy of 2013 with its associated Strategic Programme (Habte & Kweon, 2018). Though Ethiopia has ratified the Kampala Convention, there is neither a legal nor policy framework that gives domestic effect to the Convention. Though Ethiopia has recently joined the UN’s Durable Solutions Initiative (2019), existing normative frameworks do not comprehensively respond to the specific needs of IDPs (Dagne, 2021), and transitional, developmental and durable solutions are not being implemented properly. Sometimes pushes by the government for IDPs’ return to their original environments that remain violent do more harm than help. In some cases, IDPs are experiencing emotional statelessness. Focus is often much more on charity, where the private sector is required to give alms, than on creation of business and entrepreneurial activities that benefit and empower IDPs. I want to discuss the following possible solutions. First, engagement and representation of IDPs in community-based organizations to help them articulate their concerns and possible mitigation strategies. Second, government should better cooperate with host communities by aligning support to IDPs with local development endeavours than pressuring IDPs to return. Third, addressing systemic threats for example by respecting the rights of ethnic minorities in ethnic majority regions and revising federal and regional constitutions. Fourth, embracing a whole-of-government approach that engages various sectoral government offices with better coordination mechanism so that no one will be left behind.

 IDPs in Northwest Syria – How to Address Need in Non-State Entity

Speaker: Dr. Fouad M Fouad (IDRC Research Chair, American University of Beirut, Lebanon)

Syria has the highest number of internally displaced people (IDPs) in the world, with 6.7 million people being forced from their homes since the uprising began in 2011. Women and children constitute at least two-thirds of those who are displaced. The IDPs are unevenly distributed across the four primary territories controlled by various conflict parties, with only one being under government control. Each of these territories has evolved differently, with different leadership and governance structures, financing, and priorities. I will argue that the 2.5 million IDPs who crossed the power borders (but not the international borders) to northwest Syria, which is governed by non-state groups, require a different solution to address their needs when compared to IDPs who moved within territories controlled by the government.

View the conference programme for a full list of panel sessions, keynote speakers, and hosts:

Hosted by the Centre on Gender and Forced Displacement (CGFD) at the , the conference featured four panels with active participation from IDRC Research Chairs.

Taking feminist perspectives on war, conflicts, displacements, migration, and peace, the three-fold objectives of the conference are

1. To Investigate the gendered assumptions/stereotypes in the study of forced migration, displacements, international relations, and national and foreign policy making, including their explicit geopolitical and biopolitical reasoning and how political spatialization renders women and vulnerable groups even more vulnerable.
2. To examine the implications of militarized notions of territorial citizenship, using the masculinist ideas of power, space, and security and feminine representations of peace, security, and victimhood.
3. To explore how the practical everyday implications of geopolitics and biopolitics and their intersectionalities impact the causes and consequences of displacements.

Panel One: Gender, Geopolitics, and Internal Displacements

Chair: Professor Paula Banerjee (IDRC Research Chair, Director of CGFD, AIT)

1. IDP’s in Myanmar
   Speaker: Dr. Nyi Nyi Kyaw (IDRC Research Chair for Chiang Mai University, Thailand)
2. Spatial Confinement and Displacement: The Bedouins (Badu) of the Negev (Naqab)
   Speaker: Dr. Priya Singh (Post Doctoral Researcher, CFGD, AIT, Thailand)
3. IDP’s and Climate Change
   Speaker: Mr. Bradley Mellicker (Senior Regional Emergency Post Crisis Specialist, Regional Office for Asia Pacific, International Organization for Migration)

Panel Two: Gendered Vulnerabilities under the Rubrics of Citizenship and Statelessness

Chair: Professor Geraldine Forbes (Professor, State University of New York Oswego, USA)

1. LTBTQ Community in Lebanon
   Speaker: Dr. Houwayda Matta Ramia (IDRC Research Chair, St. Joshep University, Lebanon)
2. Women in 1971 Conflict
   Speaker: Dr. Purna Banerjee (Associate Professor, Presidency University, Kolkata, India)
3. Biometric Data, Identity and Refugee Protection: the Case of Rohingya Camp in Bangladesh
   Speaker: Professor Nasreen Chowdhory (Professor, Department of Political Science, Delhi University)

Panel Three: Gender, Biopolitics and Displacements

Chair: Professor Lydia Potts (Coordinator, European Masters in Migration and Intercultural Relations, Carl Von Ossietzky University, Germany)

1. “The Complex Nexus of Geopolitics and Biopolitics on the Health and Well-Being of the Displaced: Evidence from Rohingya Refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh”
   Speaker: Dr. Monira Ahsan (Postdoctoral Researcher, CGFD, AIT, Thailand)
2. “Security of the Rohingya Refugees among Thai Muslims”
   Speaker: Dr. Amporn Marddent (Assistant Professor, Faculty of Sociology and Anthropology, Thammasat University)

Panel Four: Geopolitics and Biopolitics: Everyday Experiences of the Displaced

Chair: Dr. Mike Hayes (Lecturer, the Institute for Human Rights and Peace Studies, Mahidol University)

1. “The ‘abandoned’ Identities and Realities of being a Migrant Worker: The Case of the Bangladeshi Women Domestic Migrants in Asia”
   Speaker: Dr. Poonam Sharma (International Center for Cultural Studies, NYCU, Taiwan)
2. “The Compounded Victimization of Women in Assam’s NRC Process – A Geopolitical Analysis”
   Speaker: Ms. Shuma Talukder (Corporate Lawyer and Corporate Governance Professional and Director of LexED Research, Kolkata, India)
3. “Gendering Salaita: Dissent in American Academia in the Era of Zionism”
   Speaker: Dr. Debojoy Chanda (Assistant Professor, Department of English, Panskura, Banamali College, India)
4. “Brothels and its relationship with geopolitics: A case study on Migrant women in Kolkata”
   Speaker: Dr. Sangbida Lahiri (Assistant Professor, JK Lakshmipat University, India)

View the conference agenda for a full list of panel topics, keynote addresses, lectures, and speakers:

Traditionally, possession of a valid passport serves as sufficient proof of citizenship for migrants when they are outside their country of origin. However, for Myanmar migrants in Thailand, acceptable citizenship documentation includes not only passports but also temporary passports, certificates of identity, national IDs, and household registration lists. While passports and national IDs offer permanent or complete proof of legal identity and citizenship for Myanmar migrants, the other forms may be considered lesser forms of such proof.

Navigating between their documented or undocumented belonging to their country of origin and their documented or undocumented existence in the host country presents challenges for many of the approximately four million Myanmar migrants in Thailand. They often encounter bureaucratic, arbitrary, and discriminatory citizenship and pseudo or partial citizenship documentation policies and practices by Myanmar authorities. These policies hinder their ability to meet Thailand’s migrant identification requirements.

In an effort to elucidate the legal uncertainty faced by Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand who are partially or inadequately documented, Nyi Nyi Kyaw introduced the concept of pseudo/partial citizenship documentation. He proposed this novel concept by employing a combined textual and contextual analysis of Myanmar citizenship and pseudo/partial citizenship documentation policies and practices intended for Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand.

For the textual analysis, Kyaw referred to publications regarding citizenship or identity documentation by the Ministry of Immigration and Population and the Ministry of Labour of Myanmar. To explore the contextual and lived experiences, Kyaw plans to conduct interviews with labour rights activists and Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand. Through this comprehensive approach, Kyaw aims to shed light on the complex dynamics surrounding citizenship documentation for Myanmar migrants in Thailand.

In Thailand, the second IDRC Research Chair was officially launched on May 9th at the Asian Institute of Technology. The Gender and Development Studies (GDS) program at AIT inaugurated the alongside the appointment of the IDRC Endowed Research Chair Professor on Gender and Forced Displacement. Professor Paula Banerjee, an esteemed scholar in gender, migration, and forced displacement, has been appointed as the Chair and will serve as the director of the center.

The stands as the pioneering journal dedicated entirely to advancing the comprehension of statelessness and related citizenship phenomena and challenges. It serves to address the growing demand for the exchange of ideas and knowledge among scholars in the burgeoning field of statelessness studies. The Editors-in-Chief are Prof. Michelle Foster (Peter McMullin Centre) and Dr. Laura van Waas (ISI).

This peer-reviewed, open-access, and interdisciplinary journal ensures that papers submitted undergo independent and anonymous peer review. Its Editorial Board comprises distinguished international scholars, and neither authors nor readers incur any fees. In addition to original scholarly articles that have successfully passed through the peer review process, each issue of the Review includes a section of Case Notes, providing summaries and commentary on significant jurisprudence from around the globe (edited by Dr. Katia Bianchini). Furthermore, it features a section titled ‘Critique & Comment,’ offering reflections by scholars or practitioners on emerging research, policy trends, or other new developments (edited by Dr. Christoph Sperfeldt and Dr. Nyi Nyi Kyaw), along with Book Reviews (edited by Dr. Barbara von Rütte).