Professor Phil Orchard
Biography:
Phil Orchard is Professor of International Relations at the University of Wollongong and Co-Director of the UOW Future of Rights Centre. His books include Protecting the Internally Displaced: Rhetoric and Reality (Routledge, 2018) and A Right to Flee: Refugees, States, and the Construction of International Cooperation (Cambridge University Press, 2014). Among his co-edited books are, with Antje Wiener Contesting the World: Norm Research in Theory and Practice (Cambridge University Press, 2024), and with Antje Wiener and Sassan Gholiagha, the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Norms Research in International Relations (Oxford University Press).
Abstract:
There are few direct prohibitions against forced displacement crimes, where actors deliberately displace populations. The 1951 Refugee Convention is silent on the obligations of signatories to prevent displacement. The 1998 Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement prohibit arbitrary displacement but are non-binding. Instead, one developing mechanism is to treat displacement as atrocity crimes, particularly forced deportation across borders and forcible transfers within a state’s territory. This creates other types of response, including through the International Criminal Court and international factfinding mechanisms.
How effective are these responses? Russia’s deportation campaign in Ukraine – through which over 4 million Ukrainians have been transferred to Russia, including at least 20,000 unaccompanied children – has seen these mechanisms used in concert. Yet, the international response to this campaign has been inconsistent. While these mechanisms are in use and a wide range of states have been very vocal within UN bodies, there have been two distinct waves of responses over time. During the first year of the campaign, the response focused on the deportation campaign itself and its effects on Ukrainian civilians. The second, however, transitioned to a narrower focus specifically on the transfer and deportation of Ukrainian children. While a significant crime itself, this shift in focus creates two distinct issues. The first is that a number of international investigations were never concluded. The second is that this inconsistent response risks giving the Russian government and its allies the chance to obfuscate and reframe its crimes, and render this massive deported population invisible.