IRIN Web Special on Internal Displacement

Forgotten or their numbers underestimated, internally displaced persons (IDPs) constitute a great humanitarian challenge of our time. Andrew Lawday from the Global IDP Project told IRIN that globally there were now about 25 million people displaced by internal conflicts - double the number of refugees worldwide. The head of the Project, Elisabeth Rasmusson, warned that "the [recent] Global IDP Survey confirms two worrying trends: first, that large numbers of innocent civilians are being forced from their homes by increased insecurity in the world, and secondly that many of these people remain officially neglected by government authorities".

The results of the four-year survey of IDPs worldwide - "Internally Displaced People, A Global Survey, Second Edition" - was released in September. Commenting on the survey, Lawday said the growth in numbers compared to the first survey was even more striking as, unlike this latest edition, the first had also included those displaced due to natural and environmental disasters.

Africa alone has more IDPs than the rest of the world put together - and the numbers are growing. Three-quarters of these IDPs are concentrated in just three countries: Sudan, Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Project's survey goes on to stress that IDPs in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, although fewer in number, have reported the most cases of human rights abuses, including direct physical attacks, sexual assault and forced labour.

In Burundi, where IDPs account for a striking 10 percent of the population, human rights groups have criticised the government for conscripting some 14,000 IDP children into the army. The survey found that the growing number of IDPs in Africa reflected an escalation of armed conflicts, most of which were internal in nature. As of 2002, more than one-quarter of the continent�s 53 countries had been affected. "Many of the conflicts - while intra-state - have a regional dimension and are sustained by external factors, not least cross-border support for the armed groups or rebel movements active in resources-rich areas."

In Central Asia, Afghanistan alone accounts for one million IDPs; another half a million are in Azerbaijan. According to the IDP Project, the launch of the "global war on terrorism" following 11 September 2001 has had a dramatic impact on the situation of Asian IDPs. Tightening of asylum regulations in many Western countries, including Australia, has closed escape routes for most of these IDPs. "Furthermore, the escalated counter-terrorist operations initiated by some Asian countries have raised concerns among human rights observers that personal and civil liberties may be infringed [upon] and the protection of vulnerable groups such as the internally displaced ultimately undermined."

The survey further found that "although seemingly ethnic or religious in nature, many conflicts in Asia are rooted in poverty and the exclusion of certain regions or social groups from the economic development process" - factors further complicated by regional, ethnic and religious trends and incomplete state-building. In Uzbekistan, IDP cases were a direct result of the government�s 1990s campaign to stamp out militant Islamists. In Azerbaijan, some half a million people have remained displaced since 1990 following four years of ethnic violence between Azeris and Armenians.

Despite being the greatest challenge of our time, IDPs have few champions. Most IDPs struggle to survive with inadequate shelter, limited resources and, more crucially, no protection against human rights abuses. Lawday told IRIN the commitment to finding a solution to IDP situations is lacking in most countries.

Warring parties often impede or forbid the delivery of humanitarian aid, thereby enabling malnutrition and preventable diseases to decimate IDP populations. National governments, often a contributing factor in the plight of most IDPs, do little to protect them, citing a lack of resources, but more often than not there is a lack of will. At the international level, by virtue of their inaction and by systematically under-funding humanitarian programmes aimed at assisting IDPs, also show little concern for their protection needs.

Today we have more and more information on the plight of IDPs and their numbers; however, it remains to be seen if this will translated into any significant commitment to assisting them.

For more information on the Global IDP Project, an initiative of the Norwegian Refugee Council, or a copy of the recent study "Internally Displaced People: Global Survey 2002" visit their website www.idpproject.org or contact Andrew Lawday:

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