Displaced people in Jadah camp who have fled fighting in Mosul, Iraq (DFID https://flic.kr/p/PuyAP3)
The use of explosive weapons in populated areas has been identified as a key driver of population displacement. Limiting the use of explosive weapons in populated areas is essential to providing greater protection to civilians experiencing armed conflict and curbing the displacement of people.
It is also a useful policy concept for organisations working to prevent protracted displacement caused by conflict. This new policy paper by Article 36 examines this.
Faced with an escalation in the number of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in areas of armed conflict, population displacement agencies, states and NGOs have in recent years placed increased emphasis on the need to address the root causes of forced displacement. The underlying premise driving policy development in this area is that through providing greater protection to civilians in areas of armed conflict, it can help to prevent the need to flee.
This policy paper aims to contribute to a review of the “solutions architecture” and the implementation of the New York Declaration of the 2016 UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants, by suggesting that consideration of the use of explosive weapons in populated areas can provide a useful concept for agencies working to develop policies to address the root-causes of conflict-induced displacement.