Status of Internally Displaced Persons in Syrian Arab Republic and Responsibility to Protect: An Analytical Study

The Syrian Arab Republic has long been affected by a bloody civil war and has become a key battleground since 2011 when the domestic contest began against the authoritarian regime led by President Bashar al-Assad. The crisis is labeled as one of the greatest humanitarian catastrophe resulting in millions of death and internally displaced. There are multiple international conventions for ‘Refugees’ and persons seeking Political Asylum but hardly any for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). This indicates a lack of recognition of the predicaments of IDPs by the international community. As against basic human rights and dignity, the IDPs are subject to heinous crimes. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) confirms more than 6.2 million people as internally displaced within the borders of the Syrian Arab Republic. Against this backdrop, this paper further attempts to explore the legal obstacles and challenges preventing refugees from living a dignified and respectable life. It further unravels the status of IDPs within the framework of Responsibility to Protect (R2P), contextualizing the plight of IDPs in Syria. By reviewing a number of convention reports and articles, this paper recommends two solutions viz. -Ad hoc and permanent to address the IDP crisis in Syria.