Internal Displacement and Development Agendas: A Roundtable Discussion with Sadako Ogata

Tue, 14 May 2013 09:00:00 -0400

Event Information

May 14, 2013
9:00 AM - 10:30 AM EDT

St. Louis Room
The Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC

Around the world today, there are more than 15.5 million refugees and over 28.8 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) uprooted by conflict, in addition to some 32.4 million displaced in 2012 from their homes due to natural disasters. These displacement crises are not simply humanitarian concerns, but fundamental development challenges. Forced migration flows are rooted in development failures, and can undermine the pursuit of development goals at local, national and regional levels.

Linking humanitarian responses to displacement with longer-term development support and planning is not a new concern. Beginning in 1999, for example, the “Brookings Process” – under the leadership of Sadako Ogata and James Wolfensohn – sought to bridge humanitarian relief and development assistance in post-conflict situations. But the challenge remains unresolved, and has acquired new urgency as displacement situations are becoming more protracted, and situations such as the Syrian crisis show no signs of resolution.

The Brookings Global Economy and Development Program and the Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement held a roundtable on these issues on May 14, 2013 with Sadako Ogata, former UN High Commissioner for Refugees, former Director of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency, and Distinguished Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Megan Bradley, Fellow with the Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement, facilitated the roundtable, which followed Chatham House rules.

The roundtable addressed several key topics including:

The relevance of the concept of human security to addressing displacement and development challenges
Displacement as a development challenge in fragile states
Protracted displacement
Contrasts in the approaches and processes adopted by humanitarian and development actors

The event report provides a brief overview of the discussion.

Event Materials

Brookings IDP Roundtable with Sadako Ogata May 14 2013

Participants

Panelists

Managing Transitions in Northeast Asia, the Global Economy, and Japan-U.S. Relations

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 09:00:00 -0500

Event Information

November 28, 2012
9:00 AM - 3:30 PM EST

Keidanren Conference Hall

Tokyo, Japan

Northeast Asia has seen significant leadership changes in recent months, with the election of Park Geun-hye as president of South Korea, Xi Jinping as leader of China’s ruling Communist Party, and Shinzo Abe as prime minister of Japan. As leaders of world-leading economies, these key players will no doubt bring about dynamic change in the region’s politics and economy, while balancing relations with the United States and its own newly re-elected president.

On November 28, 2012, the Center for Northeast Asian Studies (CNAPS) at Brookings, the Japan Center for Economic Research, and Nikkei held a one-day conference on “Managing Transitions in Northeast Asia, the Global Economy, and Japan-U.S. Relations.” Three panels, featuring Brookings scholars as well leading experts from across Asia, provided their views on issues of profound importance to the Northeast Asian region including leadership transitions, global economy and trade, global governance, and U.S.-Japan relations in the 21st Century.

Brookings: Experts - Sadako Ogata

Internal Displacement and Development Agendas: A Roundtable Discussion with Sadako Ogata

Event Information

Event Materials

Participants

Managing Transitions in Northeast Asia, the Global Economy, and Japan-U.S. Relations

Event Information