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Assistance
to Internally Displaced Persons
Issue Briefs/ Facts and Recommendations
The following issue brief was developed by the Humanitarian
Policy & Practice Committee.
To order a hard copy, or for more information, contact InterAction,
202-667-8227
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Internally Displaced Persons
(IDPs) are individuals or groups of people who have been forced to
flee their homes to escape armed conflict, generalized violence, human
rights abuses or natural or man-made disasters. They differ from refugees
in that they do not cross international borders, but remain within
their own countries. Like refugees, IDPs are often in desperate need
of food, shelter and protection. Because they have not crossed an
international border, IDPs are not protected under international refugee
law. Their predicament may, in fact, be worse than that of refugees,
because many IDPs are persecuted by their own governments. International
attempts to assist IDPs are often hampered by a lack of security and
by governments and armed groups who restrict access to the displaced
by the UN and NGOs.
The Facts
According to the Global
IDP Project, there are an estimated 25 million IDPs worldwide, exceeding
the number of worldwide refugees. This figure, however, may significantly
underestimate the scale of global internal displacement due to a lack
of access to internally displaced populations as well as a lack of
accurate data supplied by governments.
Africa hosts more than
50% percent of the world's IDPs. Out of a total 25 million IDPs worldwide,
more than 13 million are African. Some 4.5 million are displaced within
the Sudan alone, which has produced over one-third of the total internal
displacement in Africa.
Protection of IDPs remains
a critical issue. According to the Global IDP Project, in nearly half
of the 50 countries with IDP crises, governments fail to provide protection
to internally displaced populations under their control. In approximately
25 of these countries, IDPs have reportedly suffered from sexual violence
and exploitation, while in one-third of all IDP crises displaced persons
are used as forced labor.
There is no single agency
within the UN system with overall responsibility for IDPs. The Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has been given
responsibility by the Secretary General for coordinating assistance
to IDPs. OCHA, however, is not a service provider.
In 1992, the post of
Representative of the Secretary-General on Internally Displaced Persons
was created, among other reasons, to monitor displacement problems
worldwide, establish dialogues with governments, develop a legal framework
and increase awareness of internal displacement. Together with international
experts, the Representative has compiled Guiding Principles on Internal
Displacement, drawing from pertinent refugee, humanitarian and human
rights law.
In 2000, the Inter-Agency
Standing Committee (IASC), which acts as a reference group on policy
and humanitarian issues for the Emergency Relief Coordinator (who
is also the head of OCHA), organized a Senior Inter-Agency Network.
This network assesses the extent to which UN agencies and their partners
in the field are effectively responding to the needs of internally
displaced persons and how existing gaps can be filled. A Special Coordinator
on Internal Displacement was appointed to oversee this inter-agency
review process.
Recommendations
The U.S. government should
support the work of the IASC Senior Inter-Agency Network and the IDP
Unit within OCHA, but be prepared to look at alternatives if these
entities are not effectively meeting the needs of IDPs.
The U.S. government should
review its policies and structure relating to the crisis of internal
displacement. Currently, government responsibility is divided between
the U.S. Agency for International Development's Bureau of Humanitarian
Response and the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees,
and Migration.
U.S. government policies
should be responsive to the changing nature of the worldwide crisis
of internal displacement - recognizing that IDPs are in as great a
need of protection and assistance as refugees who have crossed international
borders.
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