Refugees International: Issues: Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)

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Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)

Concerns

International humanitarian agencies continue to struggle to provide effective protection and material support to people displaced from their homes by violence but who are unable to cross an international border and become refugees. States fail to provide adequate protection and assistance to internally displaced persons, usually because the displacement is the result of conflict in which the national government is implicated. No single UN or other international agency has responsibility for responding to internal displacement and, as a result, the global response to the needs of internally displaced persons is often ineffective.

RI has documented the problems with the “collaborative approach,” the UN’s policy for responding to IDP needs, which requires the development of a new and separate plan for each displacement crisis based on the capacities of the UN agencies present in the country. RI has found repeatedly that the collaborative approach results in the neglect of IDP needs because no single agency has responsibility for the response. Lack of clear responsibility and an overall lack of accountability lead to the neglect of internally displaced populations.

RI is advocating for the designation of a lead agency in major IDP crises. The lead agency would be responsible for identifying the key problems and gaps in assistance, and mobilizing a response using its own resources and those of other UN agencies and non-governmental organizations. We are also pushing the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to respond more proactively to internal displacement since the agency has the best combination of protection expertise and operational capacity in the UN system.

Accomplishments

In the Democractic Republic of Congo, RI learned that 3,000 people had been abandoned for two years after being placed in camps by the UN. Because of our advocacy, money was pledged so that they could begin their journey home in March 2005.

Refugees International’s efforts, in partnership with other agencies, have led to the establishment of the Internal Displacement Division in the UN’s humanitarian affairs agency. The agency focuses solely on improving the international response to internally displaced people.

The new UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, has pledged that UNHCR will be more proactive in responding to IDP needs. This is a tribute to concerted advocacy by Refugees International and partner organizations on the issue.