The Asia Pacific Academic Network on Disaster Displacement (APANDD) is a collaborative network of scholars from South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific, focusing on disaster displacement and climate-related mobility. It was established subsequent to a regional study conducted by RWI in partnership with scholars from ten Asia Pacific countries in 2020. Despite the Asia Pacific region being recognised as a hub for research on climate change and disaster displacement, as indicated in RWI’s publication “A Bibliometric Analysis of Research at the Nexus of Climate Change, Human Mobility, and Human Rights,” there remains a notable absence of Asia Pacific perspectives on the global stage. APANDD aims to address this gap by providing a platform for Asia Pacific scholars to amplify their voices internationally.
Since its establishment, APANDD and its members have actively engaged in global and national policy processes, including:
- Providing inputs to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons regarding displacement in the context of the slow-onset adverse impacts of climate change. This input was referenced in the UN Special Rapporteur's thematic report (A/75/207) presented at the General Assembly’s 75th session in 2020.
- Contributing written submissions to the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement concerning internal displacement in the context of disasters and climate change in the Asia Pacific region. These submissions helped shape the UN High-Level Panel’s report titled “Shining a Light on Internal Displacement: A Vision for the Future.”
- Providing inputs to the UN Special Rapporteur on Climate Change regarding the human rights implications of climate change displacement, including the legal protection of people displaced across international borders. This input informed the development of the UN Special Rapporteur’s report on legal options to protect the human rights of individuals displaced across international borders due to climate change (A/HRC/53/34).
- Providing inputs to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing on resettlement as a human rights issue. This submission was referenced in the UN Special Rapporteur’s thematic report titled “Resettlement After Evictions and Displacement: Addressing a Human Rights Crisis” (A/HRC/55/53).
- Contributing to the integration of human rights and gender-based approaches in Bangladesh’s National Strategy on Internal Displacement Management through a national-level advocacy workshop in 2019 and contributions to the international advisory group on implementation.
- Contributing to the adoption of the Framework for Integrating Rights and Equality (FIRE) to guide the development of Indonesia’s Guidelines for Mainstreaming Human Rights in the Regulation and Legislation Formulation Process.
'Climate Change, Disasters, and Internal Displacement in Asia and the Pacific'
'Submission by the Asia Pacific Academic Network on
Disaster Displacement in Response to Call for Inputs
by Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protect
of Human Rights in the Context of Climate Change'
'Submission of the Asia Pacific Academic Network on Disaster Displacement on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons'
'Submission by the Asia Pacific Academic Network
on Disaster Displacement in Response to Call for
Inputs by Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate
Housing'
