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Governments have the primary responsibility under international human rights law to protect their citizens. They are thus the main actors when it comes to planning, authorizing, and carrying out planned relocations. This means that international guidance on planned relocations should be formulated to support their efforts, acknowledging that such guidance may also be useful for other domestic, regional, and international actors involved in the process.

A broad range of international and regional frameworks with potential relevance to planned relocations already exists in a diverse array of documents spanning different subjects (such as internal displacement or development-induced displacement and resettlement). The question is the extent to which potential guidance on planned relocations could draw on these existing frameworks. And if so, which are the most relevant? What are the gaps that must be addressed?

This background paper seeks to address these questions by analyzing more than 30 international and regional frameworks for their possible relevance for developing guidance on planned relocations made necessary by disasters, environmental change, and/or the effects of climate change.

Brookings Institution