Reparations for Internally Displaced Persons in the Context of Climate Change and Disasters

Internal displacement driven by climate change and disasters is increasing in scale and urgency, making the development of reparative frameworks for affected persons a critical priority. The Capstone team was tasked with examining reparations for internal displacement in the context of climate change and disasters for the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons.

To answer three main research questions, the team (1) mapped references to reparations for internal displacement in the context of climate change and disasters in existing national legal and policy frameworks; (2) analyzed the distinction between Loss and Damage and reparations in climate negotiations and displacement responses; and (3) reviewed lessons learned from experiences of internally displaced persons who received compensation or other measures for climate-related displacement, with a primary focus on Africa. Sources included regional instruments, national climate policy documents, international legal materials, and judicial decisions, all of which were captured in a collated dataset of documents reviewed to shape the analyses.

The team found that reparative justice principles were conceptually present but operationally limited, with measures frequently framed as risk management and humanitarian assistance rather than rights-based reparations tied to responsibility for harm. Explicit references to reparations or established forms of reparations remained rare, and climate-displaced IDPs were more often treated as beneficiaries of assistance than as rights-holders entitled to redress. Loss and Damage mechanisms and reparations frameworks, while sharing overlapping language, operated on fundamentally different legal logics, with the former focused on voluntary support and the latter grounded in accountability and enforceable obligation. Outputs of this project included a report of findings and analyses, a collated dataset, and other advocacy materials.