Unintended consequences of adjacency claims: the function and dysfunction of analogies between refugee protection and IDP protection in the work of UNHCR

Abstract

This article examines the role of adjacency claims in the development of a norm for the international protection of internally displaced persons (IDP s). Consistent with existing scholarship on adjacency claims, the construction of analogies between refugee protection and IDP protection was instrumental in garnering broad international acceptance of the IDP protection norm. However, these same analogies had an impact beyond the abstract acceptance of the norm. They were used to justify the expansion of the mandate of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to encompass IDP s, and they shaped the way UNHCR understands and implements IDP protection. UNHCR replicated its policy approach from refugees to IDP s, generating a dysfunctional approach to IDP protection. Therefore, adjacency claims can have an effect beyond garnering support for new norms, and may result in suboptimal governance arrangements for implementing those norms.