This paper was published by the UNHCR’s Geneva-based Policy Development and Evaluation Service (PDES). The paper looks back at the movements of displaced people following the KIO and NMSP ceasefires in 1994 and 1995 and assesses the extent to which they were able to find durable solutions, with a view to find lessons learned for the hundreds of thousands of IDPs and refugees remaining today.

The main lessons were that durable solutions to displacement depend on durable solutions to conflict; ethnic armed organisations have a critical role to play in supporting displaced people; policies and practices need to recognise and build upon local agency among displaced populations to find durable solutions. It also includes a commentary by Ashley South which reflects on these findings in relation to the current peace process.