Forced Migrants and Atrocity Crimes

Abstract Over the past twenty years, there has been a growth in international mechanisms to protect forced migrants who are victims of atrocity crimes. Within international criminal law, forced deportations and forcible transfers have been defined as potentially constituting both crimes against humanity and war crimes, while some forms of transfers (such as the transferring of children) may also constitute genocide. While the Refugee Convention is silent on this question, emerging soft and regional law around the issue of internal displacement has clearly defined a right not to be arbitrarily displaced and, in the Kampala Convention, African states have accepted an obligation to protect IDPs from such acts. Finally, there is a clear linkage between forced displacement and the four atrocity crimes in the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine, including through ethnic cleansing and genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. These represent important steps forward to ensure that forced migrants can be protected from atrocities.