PIL.OT / DEVELOPMENT
PIL.OTv0.62.2
Published on 21 August 2026, the independent Declaration asserts a right for people with experience of forced displacement or statelessness to participate in decisions that directly or indirectly affect their protection and human rights. Its scope includes refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons, trafficked persons and stateless persons.
The text responds to the exclusion of affected people from decision-making and to participation that remains tokenistic, superficial or symbolic. It sets out procedural safeguards such as access to information and genuine influence over decisions, providing an independent normative framework for processes involving States, United Nations bodies, civil society organisations and other decision-makers.
The right of persons with experience of forced displacement or statelessness to participate in decisions affecting them
The Declaration moves participation by people with experience of forced displacement or statelessness beyond good practice or policy preference by formulating it as an express right. Its practical implication is a normative framework for designing decision-making processes with safeguards that provide access to information and genuine influence, rather than a binding judicial or legislative measure.
International Journal of Refugee Law · 2026
DOI 10.1093/ijrl/eeag027
Oxford University Press (OUP), “Independent Declaration on the Right of Persons with Experience of Forced Displacement or Statelessness to Participate in Decisions That Affect Them”, International Journal of Refugee Law, 2026-08-21, 10.1093/ijrl/eeag027. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijrl/eeag027