INTERNALLY

DISPLACED PERSONS

IN CONFLICT AREAS

Jean-Patrick PERRIN Milena MIKAEL-DEBASS

I. General Facts

a. Definitions : Difference between IDP/refugee

IDPs are :

“... persons or groups of persons who have been

forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or

places of habitual residence, in particular as a

result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed

conflict, situations of generalized violence,

violations of human rights or natural or human-

made disasters, and who have not crossed an

internationally recognized State border.” (UN’s

Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement)

A refugee is :

"A person who owing to a well-founded fear of beingpersecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality,membership of a particular social group or political opinion, isoutside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing tosuch fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of thatcountry; or who, not having a nationality and being outside thecountry of his former habitual residence as a result of suchevents, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to returnto it..’’

(UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, asamended by the 1967 protocol)

“Excuse me, are you an IDP, a refugee

or a migrant? Are you a victim of conflict

or another situation of violence? Oh,

you are a nomad. Are you migrating

because of conflict or because it is your

way of life?”

JordiRaich, ICRC’s head of delegation

in Sudan (2009)

b. Types/causes of internal displacement

General causes of displacement:

- Armed conflicts/Generalized violence

- Violation of human rights

Types of forced displacement :

- The forced displacement and relocation of people to isolate and combat insurgency movements

- The grouping of population in peace villages to ensure their protection

- Altering demographic composition in some region

- The struggle for control of strategic territories, or resources

- Plus natural and human-made disasters

c. Global and regional statistics

Source: Internal displacement monitoring centre

IDP Service Providers

Challenges facing IDPs

Propertyloss

FamilySeparation

Insecurity

Risk of sexual violence

Forcedrecruitment

Restrictedaccess to health

care services

Challenges for IDP

Service Providers

• Governmentcooperation

• Access to information

WFP survey: ¼ of people surveyed not registered

• IdentifyingIDPs

Urbanpoor or migrant vs. IDP

Challenges for IDP

Service Providers

Resettlement/reintegration

• 2006: Ugandangvt. declares

all IDPs free to return home

• More than 1.2 million

displaced in 150 camps in

Acholi sub-region

Challenges for IDP

Service Providers

• Security in camps

• ML&E capacity

o Workshops on UN GuidingPrincipleswithspecializedgvt. Agencies

o Training large numbers of UN staff

o Implementation of follow-upactivities

III. Situation Analysis: Case studies to illustrate challenges

a. Short termconflict-induceddisplacement : Pakistan

source: UNHABITAT

- Situation of IDPs outside official camps is similarly critical- Organisations involved in the crisis lack reliable data to estimate IDPs’ needs.

Organizing IDPs camps posed huge challenges

The lack of cooperation between local administration and organisations impeded aid delivery

Colombia IDP Profile

• Cause of displacement:

• FARC, Paramilitary/government violent clashes

• Forcible appropriation of land

• Statistics:

• 3.6 to 5.9 million displaced

• 290,000 newly displaced in 2009

• 1/3 of IDP population are indigenous or Afro-Colombians

• IDP women are particularly marginalized

Colombia- Challenges facing IDPs

• Housing

• HumanitarianAid

• Livelihoodsopp.

• Land rights

Who is intervening?

• Funded by Norway,

Germany, Canada and

USA

• GovernmentAgencies

• Local and national NGOs

• OperationalPartners

UNHCR Response

Threekey objectives :

• Community participation and

mobilization

• Data collection and sharing

• Improve the land registry

system and legalframework

to allow IDP to holdtitle to

their land

National Response

• IDP issue: “Unconstitutional state of affairs” in 2004

• Extensive legislation making provisions for IDPs

• Reforms for increased resources available to municipal

authorities mandated to provide IDP services

• 2010: New administration presents a land restitution

bill to Congress

Job opportunities

ORGANIZATIONS

UNHCR/UNDP/UNOCHA

IOM

ICRC

ECHO

USAID

IRC

AVSI

Mercy Hands

NorwegianRefugee Council

SKILLS IN DEMAND

Camp/programmanagement

ML&E

Interpreters/Translators

Medical staff

Publichealth

Finance/accounting

Agriculture/environmental