INTERNAL DISPLACEMENT A Global Overview of Trends and Developments in 2003 World map of internal displacement

Countries affected by internal displacement Internal Displacement:

A Global Overview of Trends and Developments in 2003

Geneva, February 2004

The Global IDP Project

The Global IDP Project, established by the Norwegian Refugee Council at the request of the United Nations, monitors conflict-induced internal displacement worldwide.

The Geneva-based Project runs an online database providing comprehensive and regularly up- dated information and analysis on internal displacement in over 50 countries.

This global and regional overview is based on country profiles featured by the database. For more in-depth country information and analysis, please visit the online database at

www.idpproject.org

Cover photo: A family internally displaced by ethnic violence in Katanga, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, April 2003 (photo by Greta Zeender, Global IDP Project)

Inside cover: World map of internal displacement 2003

Cover design by Damla Süar, Geneva, [email protected] Printed by Nove Impression et Conseil, Route de Champ-Colin 2, 1260 Nyon

Published by the Global IDP Project Norwegian Refugee Council 59, Moïse-Duboule 1209 Geneva Switzerland Tel.: +41 22 799 07 00 www.idpproject.org

Contents

Global Trends and Developments………………………………………………………. 4

Regional Overviews

Africa………………………………………………………………………………………. 12

Americas…………………………………………………………………………………… 16

Asia-Pacific………………………………………………………………………………... 20

Europe……………………………………………………………………………………... 26

Middle East………………………………………………………………………………... 30

Global Trends and Developments

With nearly 25 million people uprooted address the needs of IDPs; nearly a third of within their own country by conflicts and IDPs are fully or partially ignored by the human rights violations*, internal displace- UN. The UN system has yet to create the ment is one of the great human tragedies of capacity needed for the effective coordina- our time. Yet the global crisis of internal tion of its response to internal displacement. displacement, which affects 52 countries across all continents, has unfolded largely unnoticed by the general public. Interna- Millions of newly displaced people tional public attention continues to focus on refugees, i.e. people who crossed interna- In 2003, more than three million people tional borders after fleeing their homes. In were newly displaced, the majority by civil comparison, internally displaced people wars and inter-communal violence in Africa. (IDPs) have received much less attention, Some 700,000 people were uprooted in the although their number is nearly twice as east of the Democratic Republic of Congo high, and their plight is often even worse (DRC) alone, following a flare-up of vio- than that of refugees. lence in the power vacuum left by the with- drawal of foreign occupation troops from Among the millions of people newly dis- neighbouring countries. Intensified fighting placed in 2003, many were deliberately tar- in Uganda’s civil war forced an equally high geted by their own governments. In several number of people to flee their homes. And cases, the protection of displaced people as Sudan was heading towards a peace was undermined in the context of counter- agreement between the government and the insurgency campaigns intensified under the rebel-controlled south, a new conflict broke guise of the “war on terror”. Others became out in the western Darfur region, displacing victims of attacks by rebel groups or were more than half a million people. Other coun- forced to flee communal violence. tries with major new displacements include Liberia, Colombia, the Central African Re- Little tangible progress was made in 2003 public, the Philippines and Indonesia. with regard to the provision of protection and assistance to internally displaced peo- At the end of 2003, Sudan was the country ple. With few exceptions, national authori- hosting the largest internally displaced ties continued to be unable or unwilling to population, some 4 million people. The De- fully meet their obligation under interna- mocratic Republic of Congo (3 million), tional law to protect and assist people dis- Colombia (2.9 million), Uganda (1.2 mil- placed within their countries. Neither has lion), Iraq (1.1 million) and Burma (up to the international humanitarian community one million) are also among the countries made the necessary resources available to with the highest numbers of internally dis- placed people. * As national authorities often do not properly register internally displaced people on their terri- tory, many of the figures included in this Over- Peace processes raise hope for view are based on estimates by available public sources. Most estimates were reported during the return second half of 2003. In some countries, available figures vary significantly, often due to limited On the positive side, some three million access to internally displaced populations. In people were able to return to their homes most of these instances, a median figure was during 2003, most of them in Angola (1.9 used, calculated on the basis of the highest and million) and Indonesia (500,000). Thus, the lowest available estimates. large number of new displacements in 2003

4 coincided with a similarly high number of Regional developments returns. These figures do not reflect, how- ever, that many returnees faced enormous While all world regions share similar pat- difficulties when resettling or returning to terns of internal displacement, they also their place of origin, including continued show certain distinctive features. serious violations of their human rights, as well as economic destitution. In Africa, which is the continent worst- affected with nearly 13 million IDPs, rebel A growing number of peace processes raised activities and inter-communal violence were hope for an improvement of the IDP situa- key factors in the displacement of civilians; tion in a number of countries during 2003, although in several countries government including in Liberia, Sudan, Burundi, the armies or proxy forces also forced people to DRC, the Balkans, Angola, Sierra Leone, Sri flee. The ongoing peace processes in several Lanka, Indonesia and several other coun- countries raised hopes that the plight of tries. In some countries, however, progress some of Africa’s worst-off internally dis- in the settlement of conflicts was overshad- placed people may come to an end. But al- owed by the outbreak or intensification of though fighting subsided in a number of other crises which led to new displacement. countries, this did not necessarily lead to the This was, for example, the case in Darfur in return of IDPs, nor – in several cases – even western Sudan, in the Ituri province in east- to an improvement in their humanitarian ern DRC, and in Indonesia’s Aceh province. situation. The inclusion of durable solutions In a total of twelve countries, return move- for IDPs in peace agreements will be essen- ments and new displacements took place in tial for the success of these initiatives. parallel.

It was widely feared that the conflict in Iraq, Table 1: Number of IDPs (estimates; as of which dominated the internal agenda in end-2003) 2003, would cause the displacement of sev- eral hundred thousand people. This fear, as Region Countries IDPs it turned out, was exaggerated. With some 80,000 people forced to flee, the number of Africa 20 12.7 displacements in connection with the mili- Asia-Pacific 11 3.6 tary intervention by the United States did Americas 4 3.3 not reach such dramatic proportions. In ad- dition, many of those previously displaced Europe 12 3.0 under Saddam Hussein’s regime were able Middle East 5 2.0 to return to their homes. Continued insecu- rity and limited humanitarian access, how- Global 52 24.6 ever, made it difficult to create conditions for durable reintegration. In Latin America, the bloody conflict in Apart from the war in Iraq, no new major Colombia with its complex displacement armed conflict erupted in 2003. But while patterns still accounted for nearly all new international attention remained focus on displacements. The region also continued to Iraq, numerous other conflicts continued struggle to find durable solutions for people around the world – many with far worse uprooted in conflicts that had long ended. In humanitarian consequences. Peru and Guatemala, the return and reinte- gration of the displaced was agreed in the mid-1990s, but these agreements have never been fully implemented.

5 Military campaigns launched by govern- and many of them are thought to have partly ments to quash insurgencies were a major or fully integrated into their new places of cause of new displacement in the Asia- residence. For others, there is little prospect Pacific region, notably in Indonesia, Nepal of return as long as the region’s entrenched and the Philippines. Return movements took conflicts are not settled. In Iraq, the demise place as well, particularly in Afghanistan, of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003 created Indonesia and Sri Lanka, albeit at a much opportunities for the return of the internally slower pace than in the previous year. Lack displaced, but ethnic tensions and the unsta- of assistance and livelihood opportunities; ble security situation prevented large-scale land and property disputes; continued hostil- return movements. ity from local populations; and continued fighting meant that many IDPs preferred to wait before returning, or opted to resettle in Displacement caused by govern- their area of displacement. ments and rebels alike

Across all world regions, fighting between Table 2: Regional distribution of IDPs government forces or government-backed (2003) and refugees (2002) militias and rebel groups – often along the routes of troop advances or retreats – con- 14,000,000 12,000,000 tinued to be one of the main causes of dis- IDPs placement. In Colombia, Sudan, the Russian 10,000,000 Refugees 8,000,000 Federation (Chechnya), Nepal, the Philip- 6,000,000 pines, Burundi, Indonesia, Liberia and many 4,000,000 other countries, civilians were forced to flee 2,000,000 their homes in 2003 as a result of such inter- 0 nal conflicts and the disregard of warring

a t c s forces for their responsibility to protect ci- c e s fi a n ri p a i c w f ro E c ri o A u e a e n l -P k vilians. In some countries, government E d a m n id si A u M forces, militias or insurgent groups deliber- A Sources: Global IDP Database, UNHCR, ately targeted civilians and actively expelled USCR, UNWRA them from their homes. Often such acts were accompanied by arbitrary killings, looting, In Europe, the number of internally dis- destruction of houses and other serious hu- placed people further decreased as many man rights violations such as torture and IDPs were able to return, mainly in south- rape. eastern Europe. At the same time, many IDPs, particularly in the southern Caucasus In recent years, national security forces and and parts of the Balkans, continued to live in government-backed militias have deliber- long-term displacement as there was still no ately displaced large numbers of people in solution in sight to the conflicts that once Burma, Zimbabwe and Côte d’Ivoire, forced them to flee. Against the background among others. In Sudan, more than half a of waning international attention, finding million people had to flee their homes in the durable solutions for these long-term IDPs western state of Darfur in 2003, mainly as a remains a major challenge. The Russian result of attacks by government troops and Federation (Chechnya) was the only country raids by militias reportedly backed by the in Europe where people where still at risk of government. In Turkmenistan, forced dis- being forcibly displaced by ongoing fighting placement was used by the government as a in 2003. tool of repression against its citizens, par- ticularly against members of national mi- More than half of the IDPs in the Middle norities and dissidents and their families. East – in Israel, Syria and Lebanon – have been displaced for two decades or longer,

6 Armed rebel groups, privately financed mili- for local anti-terrorist campaigns are non- tias or armies commanded by war lords also democratic regimes and have a long history committed horrendous atrocities and ac- of instability, military coups and human counted for more than half the world’s new rights violations. Yet the delivery of military displacement during 2003. In Colombia, support was generally not accompanied by both guerrillas and paramilitaries continued an increase in assistance aimed at strength- to depopulate rural areas for political and ening the rule of law and respect for human economic gains and to control or regain stra- rights. And once military aid was provided, tegic territories. The displacement situation there often were limited opportunities to in northern Uganda reached an all time peak control how it was used. in mid-2003 when more than one million people were uprooted in a failed counter- insurgency operation by government forces Table 3: Countries where the "war on which then triggered a spree of armed raids terror" affected the protection of IDPs by the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army. And in the DRC, competing rebel groups – who Afghanistan were in the midst of negotiating their role in Colombia a new transitional government – continued Indonesia to fight over the control of territory and Iraq natural resources during 2003, causing the Nepal displacement of hundreds of thousands of Israel/Palestinian Territories people. Philippines Russian Federation Uganda

Internal displacement and the “war on terror” (Non-exhaustive list of countries where in- tensified counter-insurgency operations There were growing concerns that the US- were justified as antiterrorism measures.) led “war on terror”, which expanded on sev- eral fronts during 2003, may have had a worsening effect on the worldwide dis- In several cases, including for example placement crisis by encouraging govern- Uganda and Nepal, these developments ap- ments to seek military solutions to conflicts peared to have encouraged governments to and undermining respect for international opt for military solutions to conflicts, rather humanitarian and human rights standards, than political settlements. In the case of the including those relating to the protection of Russian Federation, which claims to con- IDPs. tribute to the “war on terror” through its fight against Chechen rebels, international The international anti-terrorism campaign criticism of the conduct of the war in clearly changed the dynamics of several in- Chechnya and the forced displacement it has ternal conflicts. A number of governments caused has largely abated since the 11 Sep- faced with armed opposition movements tember 2001 terrorist attacks. In Indonesia were quick to label their opponents “terror- and the Philippines, tens of thousands of ists” and to present their counter-insurgency people were displaced in 2003 as a direct operations as part of the international “war result of counter-insurgency operations con- on terror”. This allowed some of these gov- ducted under the banner of the “war on ter- ernments to attract substantial military sup- ror”. These campaigns were not necessarily port, mainly from the US, and to escape in- caused by the increased international focus ternational scrutiny with regard to how they on fighting terrorism; some of them were conducted their military operations and launched well before. But in several cases complied with human rights standards. these operations – supposedly aimed at Many of the recipients of military assistance combating terrorism and increasing security

7 – have, ironically, undermined the protec- as their governments were unwilling or un- tion of civilians. Although the military in- able to help and international aid agencies terventions in Afghanistan and, more re- had no access due to security risks. More- cently, Iraq opened up opportunities for the over, in several cases, governments or rebel return of IDPs, the fragile security situation groups deliberately blocked humanitarian in both countries largely prevented the sus- access to IDPs in need of assistance. tainable reintegration of previously dis- placed populations. Table 4: The world’s ten worst displace- In 2003, the global trend towards tightening ment situations in 2003 immigration and asylum rules continued, partly as a result of measures to prevent ter- Burma rorism. This was illustrated, for example, by Burundi the dramatic drop in refugee admissions in Colombia the US, which used to accept large numbers Côte d’Ivoire of refugees who had fled from conflicts into Democratic Republic of Congo neighbouring countries. As opportunities for Indonesia (Aceh) third-country resettlement shrink, states bor- Liberia dering conflict areas are likely to become Russian Federation (Chechnya) even less willing to accept refugees. It is Somalia Sudan feared that a general decrease in cross- border refuge will force a growing number of victims of conflict to seek internal refuge (Based on the analysis of factors including within the countries in which their lives are type of displacement, number of IDPs, under threat. physical security, humanitarian conditions and access, and government response)

Even where IDPs managed to find shelter in The world’s worst displacement camps or private accommodation away from situations the most dangerous areas, they remained vulnerable to physical violence. IDP camps More than a third of the world’s internally were targets of attacks, for example in displaced – some nine million people – Uganda, and there were reports of wide- found themselves in situations where their spread sexual abuse of women and children, lives were in constant danger. In Burma, who in most cases make up the majority of Liberia and Somalia, IDPs had virtually no- internally displaced populations. In nearly where to go to escape attacks and find safe half the countries affected by internal dis- shelter. As a result, many were killed or died placement, IDPs were exposed to forced of hunger and disease. IDPs unable to flee recruitment and forced labour. Internally areas of fighting in Colombia, Burundi, In- displaced people often have no adequate donesia, Côte d’Ivoire, Sudan, the Democ- access to food, shelter and health care, and ratic Republic of Congo and the Russian many suffer from psychological stress. To Federation (Chechnya) were in similarly make things worse, the majority of IDPs live miserable situations. in countries facing numerous other chal- lenges such as poverty, natural disasters, and Many IDPs in these countries struggled to epidemics like HIV/AIDS. survive without proper shelter and with little food, often in close proximity to active fighting. This continuously exposed them to assaults by rebel groups or national security forces, and many were forced to repeatedly flee. IDPs caught in these situations mostly did not receive any humanitarian assistance,

8 No protection cases, they congregate in camps nearby seeking temporary safety, food and shelter; In 13 of the 52 countries affected by internal and only when violence and threats reach displacement, IDPs could not count on their chronic levels, do they make more dramatic government for protection at all. This meant and permanent moves to an urban centre, that more than ten million internally dis- distant camp or settlement. In some cases, placed people were confronted with hostile displaced people hide in forests, jungles and or, at best, indifferent authorities who made other inhospitable terrain. no effort to protect them. In two cases – Li- beria and Somalia – the collapse of state During displacement, opportunities for self- structures prevented any effective govern- reliance are extremely limited. Forced away ment response, but in all other cases there from their properties and livelihoods, most was no justification for the inaction by gov- internally displaced people are dependent on ernments. Another nine million people in 22 occasional humanitarian assistance and countries were left with only occasional and struggle to survive. There are generally very fragmentary protection. A mere third of the little prospects of any form of income- governments really made an effort to protect generating activity, all the more so as dis- the IDPs on their territory. placement usually occurs in developing countries which have weak economies and In 2003, Burma again was the country with limited infrastructure. Long-term displace- the worst record with regard to the treatment ment causes loss of traditional livelihood of IDPs. Up to one million people remained skills, and disintegration of family and displaced within the country as a result of community structures. In most IDP situa- the military regime’s brutal targeting of na- tions, children lack access to education; in tional minorities suspected of supporting many cases because school buildings have rebel groups operating along the country’s been damaged or teachers have fled. eastern borders. Without any internal or ex- ternal protection, Burma’s IDPs were ex- In nearly one third of the countries affected posed to ongoing violence and systematic by internal displacement, access to land and human rights abuses at the hands of gov- favourable weather conditions would have ernment troops. allowed a substantial number of internally displaced people to grow their own food and thus become less dependent on outside hu- Limited opportunities for self- manitarian assistance. But in all these cases, reliance lack of security prevented any form of sub- sistence farming. In some countries, includ- ing Burma and Zimbabwe, governments Faced with governments unwilling or unable deliberately obstructed farming activities by to help, millions of internally displaced are – the internally displaced for political reasons. at least initially – forced to find food and safe shelter on their own, without any assis- tance from national authorities or interna- tional humanitarian agencies. Often over- Trapped in long-term displace- looked, many IDPs themselves develop first ment responses and coping mechanisms to deal with situations of increased violence and Although most of the world’s IDPs were in displacement. In many cases, people move need of physical protection and humanitar- to neighbouring villages for short periods ian assistance during 2003, in nearly half the when they feel threatened by fighting or the countries the threats and violence that presence of armed groups, and take shelter caused people to flee in the first place no with family or friends until it is safe to re- longer constituted the major obstacle to their turn. In some of these situations, they even return. Almost six million people were remain able to work their fields. In other trapped in such situations where an end of

9 active fighting and lawlessness would allow The support of the Angolan government in for durable solutions if only sufficient po- the reintegration of returned or resettled litical will were mobilised to create the nec- IDPs, for example, was far from adequate, essary conditions. Many people – in south- particularly in light of the country’s vast oil eastern Europe, the Caucasus, the Middle wealth. The dismal protection situation East or Latin America for example – have faced by the internally displaced in Colom- been internally displaced for a decade or bia, a country with the world’s most devel- longer, and there is little hope that many of oped IDP legislation, is another example. them will return any time soon. In some ex- treme cases, including Cyprus and Israel, displacement has spanned generations. The Filling the gap: the role of the in- long-term nature of many displacement ternational community situations underscores the importance of efforts aimed at helping IDPs out of the International humanitarian assistance suc- poverty, property disputes, unemployment ceeded in filling the gaps left by inadequate and legal limbo that often characterises their national responses only to a limited extent. situation. Lack of funding remained a serious con-

straint, in particular for the many “forgot-

ten” humanitarian crises that received little Insufficient national responses or no international attention during the year. Aid flows to sub-Saharan Africa, for exam- Under international law, national govern- ple, have shrunk significantly in recent ments have the primary responsibility for years. By the end of 2003, donors provided protecting and assisting their internally dis- only 44 per cent of the US$ 220 million the placed citizens. In reality, only one third of UN had requested to meet the massive hu- the governments really made an effort to manitarian needs in the DRC. By contrast, comply with this obligation at a level ade- the amount requested for Iraq, though ten quate to the resources at their disposal. In times as high, was covered almost entirely. the majority of cases, national authorities were either unable or unwilling to respond Another concern was the limited humanitar- adequately to the needs of internally dis- ian access to internally displaced popula- placed populations. Nearly 18 million IDPs tions. In 2003, insecurity prevented interna- received no humanitarian assistance from tional agencies from reaching IDPs in nearly the authorities in their country, or only on an half of the countries affected by internal dis- occasional basis. Some governments did not placement. Most international organisations have enough resources at their disposal. In left Iraq by the end of 2003 because of the countries ravaged by war, the disruption of dramatically worsening security situation in public services and destruction of infrastruc- the country and the deliberate targeting of ture often severely hampered the provision humanitarian workers. Other inaccessible of any form of assistance to vulnerable countries and regions included Burma, west- populations. In some countries, state struc- ern Sudan, Chechnya, northern Uganda, tures collapsed completely, forcing the civil- eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and ian population to rely on their own re- areas of ongoing conflict in Colombia, Libe- sources. Apart from these extreme cases, ria and Côte d’Ivoire. In nine countries, gov- however, the level of protection and assis- ernments or rebel forces added bureaucratic tance afforded to IDPs was often a question obstacles or completely denied access to of priority. Governments at war, in particu- internally displaced populations for political lar, generally saw IDPs as a low priority, reasons. In 2003, Burma continued to be the preferring to channel resources into the mili- worst case in this regard. tary. Even where specific IDP policies and legislation had been developed, govern- ments generally failed to implement them.

10 Nearly a third of IDPs largely ex- tutionalised structures and practices. The cluded from UN assistance studies revealed that there was a general lack of awareness of IDP-related responsi- In general, the UN is the main international bilities among senior field staff charged with provider of assistance and protection for coordinating the UN’s activities, and identi- internally displaced persons. However, in 21 fied major gaps in the assistance and protec- countries affected by internal displacement, tion work done by UN agencies. UN agencies were not engaged in addressing the specific humanitarian needs of IDPs. In Table 5: Countries without UN involve- eight other countries, the UN provided only ment in IDP assistance occasional assistance on an ad hoc basis, mainly food aid. This meant that some seven million IDPs, nearly a third of the world’s Algeria internally displaced population, were partly Armenia Bangladesh or fully excluded from the assistance and Burma monitoring provided by the UN system. In Croatia cases where the UN was not engaged on India internal displacement issues – be it due to Israel security concerns or political considerations Kenya – national and international non- Lebanon governmental organisations (NGOs) played Mexico a crucial role in assisting IDPs. Moldova Nepal In some twenty countries, the UN made ef- Nigeria forts to address the needs of IDPs more Pakistan Peru comprehensively. Of the 17 Consolidated Rwanda Appeals (CAPs) developed for countries Solomon Islands affected by internal displacement, thirteen Syria included an assessment of the IDP situation, Turkey although many of these did not include IDP Turkmenistan figures or descriptions of UN coordination Uzbekistan mechanisms.

At the headquarters level, debates continued in 2003 on how to improve the UN’s re- As there appears to be general agreement sponse to internal displacement. The IDP that the present collaborative approach in Unit, established in 2002 under the UN principle remains the best available option Emergency Relief Coordinator to help for addressing the needs of IDPs, serious strengthen the UN’s response capacity, in efforts will have to be made to improve its 2003 commissioned two surveys, the “Pro- effectiveness. In most cases this means the tection Survey” and the “IDP Response Ma- establishment or strengthening of coordina- trix”, which revealed major weaknesses in tion mechanisms, regular monitoring of and the UN’s approach to internal displacement reporting on internal displacement, negotiat- at the country level. The studies suggested ing humanitarian access, and the develop- that in many countries the “collaborative ment of IDP response strategies clearly de- approach”, designed to ensure a coordinated fining the IDP-related responsibilities of response by the international community to each of the UN agencies involved. situations of internal displacement, does not work as envisaged. The UN’s approach to internal displacement at the country level was often marked by ad hoc activities and depended on personalities rather than insti-

11 Africa

More people are internally displaced on the d’Ivoire or Somalia – were close to breaking African continent than in the rest of the down in 2003. world put together. At the end of 2003, Af- rica was home to an estimated 13 million of Yet even though this has meant there has the world’s 25 million IDPs. In contrast, been an end to active fighting in several Af- Africa’s refugee population was estimated at rican countries, and progress has been made approximately 3.5 million (2002). in finding political solutions to conflicts, these positive developments have generally Although the continent again saw massive failed to lead to an improvement in the hu- population movements during 2003, the to- manitarian situation of IDPs or return condi- tal number of IDPs has remained almost tions. In some cases, the suffering of IDPs unchanged from the previous year. Large- and other vulnerable populations actually scale return movements, particularly in An- increased. Despite the peace agreement in gola where close to two million people were Liberia, most IDPs were still unable to re- able to go back to their homes, coincided turn to their homes and remained exposed to with the new displacement of a similar num- serious human rights violations. The new ber of people by conflicts elsewhere, mainly transitional government in the DRC was not in the Democratic Republic of Congo able to establish effective control over the (DRC), Uganda, Sudan, Liberia, and in the east of the country, where displacements Central African Republic. With a total of dramatically worsened in spring 2003 and four million, Sudan still hosts the largest was still plagued by lawlessness and ethnic IDP population in Africa, followed by the clashes during the rest of the year. In Sudan DRC with three million. In Uganda, the over half a million people were uprooted by number of IDPs nearly doubled during 2003 intensified fighting in the western Darfur to reach 1.2 million by the end of the year. region which remained excluded from the emerging peace deal. Even where IDPs were able to go back to their towns and villages, Peace processes fail to improve such as in Angola following the 2002 peace IDP situation agreement, they continued to face grim hu- manitarian conditions and human rights In a positive development, promising peace abuses. processes have begun or continued during 2003 in several African countries long- In Sudan, Liberia, the DRC, Congo- plagued by civil wars. In Sudan, successful Brazzaville and other countries with a well- talks between the government and the SPLA advanced peace process, the relative stabili- rebels controlling the south of the country, sation of the security situation enabled hu- raised hopes that Africa’s longest lasting manitarian agencies to reach previously in- internal conflict which has displaced mil- accessible areas and step up assistance lions of people would soon come to an end. provided to internally displaced people. But In Liberia, a peace accord signed in August continued insecurity in many areas across 2003 ended months of intensified fighting the continent, poor road conditions and lack which had displaced hundreds of thousands of funding meant that the massive humani- of people. Similarly, prospects for stability tarian needs in countries devastated by years increased in the DRC with the signing of a of civil war often remained largely unad- peace deal and the formation in June 2003 of dressed by the international community. In a transitional government. Peace processes the DRC, for example, several regions are are underway in other countries with inter- not covered by international aid agencies at nally displaced populations as well, al- all, although the UN in 2003 began to though some of these – for example in Côte strengthen its presence through the estab-

12 lishment of several regional offices. The causes of displacement. In some African overwhelming majority of the large numbers countries, including Sudan, Angola, Congo- of newly displaced people in Sudan’s Darfur Brazzaville and Nigeria, internal displace- region were inaccessible to humanitarian ment can be directly or indirectly linked to organisations, mainly due to the ongoing the exploration and extraction of oil re- fighting in this area. Banditry and the virtual sources. In Sudan, for example, government- absence of law enforcement agencies in backed militias have forcibly depopulated some areas hindered access to the 200,000 oil-rich areas. people who were displaced in the Central African Republic during the year. Many of the continent’s conflicts causing internal displacement also have a regional Faltering peace processes led to a deteriora- dimension and are sustained or fuelled by tion of the humanitarian situation and ham- external factors, particularly in countries pered humanitarian access in Somalia and with rich natural resources. This includes Côte d’Ivoire, while in Uganda, which saw cross-border support for armed groups or one of the continent’s worst displacement rebel movements by hostile neighbouring crises in 2003, there is little hope of a politi- governments. The conflicts in the West Af- cal solution that may improve the protection rican states of Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, of the country’s IDPs. and – more recently – Côte d’Ivoire have all been intertwined, with the rebels in each of these countries at some point having been Patterns of displacement backed by one or more neighbouring states. In a similarly complex situation, the war in Internal displacement in Africa is caused by the DRC was not only fought by numerous conflicts often resulting from struggles for internal actors, but also directly involved at political and economic power or control least five other countries in the region. over natural resources between rival groups. Plunder of the DRC’s rich natural resources Often there is an ethnic dimension to the was among the main factors that started the conflict, such as in Côte d’Ivoire, Sudan or war, further attracting external actors, and Burundi. Rebel movements find it easy to thus fuelling the conflict. operate and gain support within weak states that are dominated by small elites and lack functioning democratic institutions, public Protection concerns services and law enforcement structures. In the civil wars plaguing the continent both Uprooted from their habitual environment, governments and rebel groups forcibly dis- the internally displaced remain among the place populations as a tool to increase con- most vulnerable groups in most conflict trol over them, or deprive an adversary of a situations and are often deliberately targeted support base. In Burundi the government in by government forces or rebel groups. Arbi- 1998-99 forced large numbers of Hutus into trary killings and other grave human rights camps guarded by government forces, alleg- violations such as torture, mutilation and edly to protect them from attacking rebel rape – inflicted on civilians both by rebels or groups. Similarly the Ugandan government government troops – have been documented in 1996 ordered significant parts of the in recent years in nearly every African coun- population of the northern districts into try monitored by the Global IDP Project. In camps at a 48-hour notice as part of a strat- most cases, such abuses accompany or di- egy to separate them from the rebels operat- rectly cause displacement. In Uganda, for ing in that area. example, IDP camps, which were poorly These patterns are replicated at the regional protected by the government, were fre- and the local level, where smaller-scale, of- quently attacked and looted by the rebel ten migration-related conflicts over scarce Lord’s Resistance Army during 2003. De- land or water are among the additional spite the ongoing peace process in Sudan,

13 IDPs have regularly been exposed to gross camps which are largely unattended by hu- violations of fundamental human rights and manitarian actors because of frequent attacks humanitarian law by the warring parties. by the rebels. This included helicopter gunship attacks, gang rape, destruction of relief sites, and the burning of villages. In Burundi, too, the Landmines hamper flight and re- peace process has not led to an improvement turn in the protection of IDPs who continued to be subject to torture, rape, arbitrary arrests Landmines have remained a major impedi- and repeated displacement. Internally dis- ment both to the ability of civilians to flee, placed people, including many children, are as well as to their ability to return. It appears often forcibly recruited for compulsory la- that landmines have increasingly been used bour and military service. Sexual violence is to terrorise civilian populations and channel a recurrent feature of assaults on IDPs in their movements. Moreover, the presence of many countries. In the DRC, hundreds of mines in agricultural fields renders large thousands of girls and women, many of tracts of fertile soil unusable and entails them internally displaced, have been raped grave economic losses for their owners. In since the beginning of the conflict 1998, and Angola, mine contamination and the de- the UN in 2003 reported cases of sexual mu- struction of infrastructure continued to pre- tilation and even cannibalism, particularly vent economic recovery, endanger lives, and targeting Pygmy women. impede the delivery of humanitarian and development assistance in most provinces. The war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, Little aid for massive needs which ended in 2000, left a legacy of land- mines that has hampered the return process Insecurity and poor transport infrastructure in both countries. Landmines also pose a seriously hampered humanitarian access to great challenge to the planning of the return IDPs. In many cases, these people were not process in Sudan, which is among the ten able to find shelter in organised camps or countries worldwide most affected by mines. protected areas. Their only option was to seek refuge in host communities who were already exhausted by the effects of war, or Insufficient national responses to hide in the bush. There have been numer- ous examples in recent years of humanitar- A common problem in many African coun- ian catastrophes unfolding beyond the reach tries has continued to be the lack of good of aid organisations. In the DRC, more than governance, transparency and accountabil- three million people have lost their lives ity. In extreme cases, such as Somalia, there since the beginning of the war in 1998; most has been no functioning central government of them died as a result of disease and mal- at all. As a result, there has been a lack of nutrition. Access to the starving population recognition by governments regarding their in the Central African Republic was severely obligations to provide internally displaced hampered by marauding soldiers in the af- persons with the necessary protection and termath of the coup d’état that ended months assistance. In some cases a government’s of fighting in March 2003. In Somalia, response has actually exacerbated the plight where malnutrition rates have been consis- of IDPs. For example, in Rwanda the gov- tently alarming, chronic insecurity has ren- ernment “villagisation” process, which dered large areas of the country off-limits to started in 1996, aimed to move the entire humanitarian organisations, and the limited rural population into grouped settlements, movement they have enjoyed has been under supposedly to better provide basic services the protection of heavily-armed militia. And and access to land. Instead, living conditions in Uganda, hundreds of thousands of inter- in some of the resettlement sites were sub- nally displaced people live in congested stantially worse than in the pre-war era. And

14 in Uganda, the government’s controversial ern DRC and the presence of French troops policy of moving populations into “pro- in Côte d’Ivoire. tected villages” in some cases made IDPs even more vulnerable to rebel attacks. Regional and sub-regional forces have also been deployed to help restore peace and fa- Unlike in other regions of the world, most cilitate humanitarian assistance – sometimes notably perhaps Latin America, war-torn in collaboration with the UN – but with lim- African countries generally lack an estab- ited success. The regional peacekeeping lished civil society that can bring interna- mission in the Central African Republic, for tional attention to situations of internal dis- example, failed to stabilise the security placement in their countries. situation in north-western districts where raids of bandit groups, mainly comprising Regionally, while bodies such as the African former soldiers, cut internally displaced Union (previously the Organisation of Afri- people off from humanitarian assistance. can Unity) and the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights have, at various times, called for an improved response to Lack of funding internally displaced persons, little has actu- ally been done about it. The Intergovern- International humanitarian operations have mental Authority on Development (IGAD), been hampered not only by the limited ac- a sub-regional organisation comprising cess to internally displaced populations, but seven east African countries, in September also by an overall shortage of donor fund- 2003 acknowledged the Guiding Principles ing. Aid flows to sub-Saharan Africa on the as a “useful tool” for policymaking and whole have shrunk in recent years. By the called upon the IGAD secretariat to establish end of 2003, donors provided only 44 per a unit to deal with issues of forced dis- cent of the US$ 220 million the UN re- placement, including IDPs. quested to meet the massive humanitarian needs in the DRC during the year. By con- trast, the amount requested for Iraq, though Keeping the peace? ten times as high, was covered almost en- tirely. Even appeals for African countries The impact of UN peacekeeping operations which attracted considerable international on situations of internal displacement in Af- attention during the course of the year, did rica has been mixed, with general scepticism not really result in more donor generosity. about their effectiveness remaining high in Liberia with its immense post-conflict reha- the wake of the debacles in Somalia and bilitation needs, for example, attracted a Rwanda in the 1990s. This scepticism was meagre 39 per cent of the US$ 47 million nourished by the way several hundred UN requested. Moreover, a flash emergency ap- peace-keepers failed to intervene during peal issued by the UN in response to an massacres that took place in the DRC’s Ituri emerging food crisis in the Central African province in spring 2003. But a number of Republic in spring 2003 was largely ignored other UN missions and interventions by in- by the donor community. dividual states, with or without UN mandate, have contributed to ending hostilities and Furthermore, the effectiveness of the inter- settling conflicts, which in turn has pre- national humanitarian response is severely vented further displacements or improved limited by a lack of coordination and leader- conditions for return. In Sierra Leone, UN ship among the UN agencies and other or- peace-keepers have helped improve the se- ganisations on the ground. As a result, inter- curity situation throughout most of the coun- national efforts to address the assistance and try, which prompted the return of large protection needs of the internally displaced numbers of IDPs. Other examples include are often characterised by a piecemeal ap- the French-led UN intervention in the east- proach and a lack of strategy.

15 Americas

Some 3.3 million people† are internally dis- Causes of displacement placed in Latin America, nearly six times the number of refugee originating from the re- Conflicts and forced displacement in Latin gion. Although displacement remains a America are mainly rooted in growing eco- problem in Mexico, Guatemala and Peru, nomic disparities and unequal access to land most international focus is on Colombia, affecting poor rural indigenous communi- one of the worst internal displacement crises ties. Indigenous and Afro-Colombian villag- in the world. The conflict in Colombia has ers, Maya communities in Mexico and Gua- forced an increasing number of people to temala, and Quechua-speaking people in seek protection abroad. But following the 11 Peru have suffered disproportionately from September 2001 terrorist attacks many displacement. states have further tightened visa regimes and asylum policies. This particularly af- Violence related to insurgency and counter- fects Colombians, who often find themselves insurgency operations has caused large-scale stigmatised as sympathisers of groups la- displacement in the region. Latin American belled as terrorists. society has often been polarised between indigenous under-classes and large land- With the exception of Colombia, military owners. In response to economic inequali- conflicts have largely abated in the Ameri- ties, landless farmers and indigenous com- cas. While civil wars in Guatemala, El Sal- munities have struggled to gain respect for vador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Haiti and their cultures, and rights to their ancestral Peru displaced about 2 million people dur- lands. In order to safeguard the economic ing the 1980s and early 1990s, the restora- interests of national elites and foreign capi- tion of peace has been accompanied by tal, governments have often used military large waves of returns. means to “solve” socio-political problems and land disputes. This approach has re- Despite successful peace processes in many sulted in repression and mass displacement parts of the Americas, the total number of of people. displaced persons in the region has almost tripled since 1996, due entirely to the acute Sometimes, displacement has been an end in escalation of violence in Colombia. The con- itself rather than a by-product of war: people flict has spilled over Colombia’s borders, have been displaced by warring parties try- posing a growing threat to regional stability ing to seize control of territories rich in and straining relations with neighbouring natural resources or oil. In Colombia, both countries. Although the Colombian govern- guerrillas and paramilitaries continue to de- ment initiated a peace dialogue with the populate rural areas for political and eco- United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia nomic gains and to control or regain strate- (AUC), the negotiations with its main oppo- gic territories. Armed actors have commonly nent, the Colombian Revolutionary Armed accused civilians of supporting the “enemy”, Forces (FARC) have been stalled for nearly before uprooting or killing them to appro- two years. priate their lands for illicit crop cultivation or to serve the interests of large landholders.

The proliferation of drug cartels in Colom- † This is only a rough estimate as the figure for bia and Peru considerably complicates dis- Colombia, which totals over three million, has placement patterns. People are often caught been accumulated since 1985 and does not re- between guerrillas, who have, since the end flect returns, multiple displacements and demo- of the Cold War, financed their armed ac- graphic changes in the displaced population.

16 tivities with profits from the narcotics trade; In both Guatemala and Colombia attacks and networks allying security forces, drug against human rights defenders continued traffickers and paramilitaries, financed by throughout 2003. In Colombia, a climate of wealthy landowners. In turn, the indiscrimi- increased social polarisation and generalised nate fumigation of food as well as illicit violence has forced leaders of internally dis- crops has also forced tens of thousands of placed organisations and indigenous com- farmers to flee their homes in Colombia. munities, human rights advocates, social workers, teachers, trade unionists and church leaders from their homes. These Human rights and living condi- groups have been the targets of armed actors tions who consider them agents of the “other side”. Moreover, since the breakdown of The human rights situation in Latin America dialogue between the government and the remains a cause for concern. Landless in- FARC, violent actions against civilians have digenous populations have often been forced multiplied, including attacks using explo- to flee brutal political violence. Stigmatised sives and kidnappings. as subversive, these populations have been the target of violent counter-insurgency re- Many IDPs are denied civil and socio- prisals by military and paramilitary groups, economic rights. Fearing further attacks or in violation of human rights and humanitar- the stigma of being displaced, many IDPs in ian principles. In Guatemala, members of Latin America do not register with the au- the Maya population were forced from their thorities. Without official registration and homes into camps controlled by the army, or proper identity documents, IDPs face diffi- coerced into joining counter-insurgency de- culties in accessing government assistance, fence patrols in response to their linkages to employment, health care and education, and the guerrilla movement in the 1980s. Simi- their right to own or reclaim their property is larly, in Peru the displaced were obliged to restricted. join defence patrols or face prison sentences for suspected ties with the terrorist group The vast majority of IDPs in Latin America Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path). Since are dispersed rather than living in organised Alvaro Uribe Velez took office as President camps. People of indigenous origin have of Colombia in August 2002, he has pur- often fled to isolated regions with little food sued, under the slogan of “democratic secu- or medical supplies. Many IDPs in Guate- rity”, a policy of intensified civil counter- mala, Colombia and Peru have been forced insurgency activities. This has blurred the to find minimal shelter in urban slums with distinction between combatants and civil- impoverished populations. There they live in ians, and in doing so, undermines interna- abject poverty, and often face intense dis- tional humanitarian law principles. crimination. Blacks, Indians and non- Spanish speakers in particular are often con- In response to the lack of government pro- sidered unwelcome neighbours by resident tection, and in order to resist being drawn populations and the authorities. In Colom- into the conflict, IDPs in the Americas have bia’s big-city slums, IDPs continue to be formed so-called resistance or peace com- victims of “social cleansing” by paramilitary munities. In Guatemala, for example, some groups. Increasingly across cities, large sec- 50,000 displaced people formed a group tions of the populations are being drawn into called the Communities of People in Resis- gang warfare which replicates war alle- tance. In Colombia, the formation of peace giances and divisions at the national level. communities has failed to prevent continued attacks, food blockades and restrictions on The administration of justice is still weak in freedom of movement. the region. Internal displacement in Latin America has often been carried out by pa- ramilitary forces with near impunity, alleg-

17 edly with the acquiescence and collaboration National, regional and interna- of law enforcement personnel and land- tional responses owning elites. While some Colombian com- batants have started to demobilise in 2003, Governments in the Americas have increas- the government’s plan to reintegrate para- ingly acknowledged the problem of internal military troops into the national army may displacement and have taken some steps to leave crimes against humanity and viola- address it. In Colombia, national legislation tions of international humanitarian law un- on IDPs is more advanced than anywhere punished. This could deny the victims of else in the world. Important parts of it, how- displacement their right to justice and repa- ever, remain to be implemented. Humanitar- ration. ian assistance remains insufficient and measures to prevent displacement are lack- ing. Moreover, reforms initiated by Presi- Durable solutions dent Uribe are undermining the existing normative framework of protection for IDPs. Many internally displaced people in Latin In Peru, the release of the Truth and Recon- America are still struggling to find durable ciliation Commission report in 2003 ex- solutions to their plight. Agreements made posed the human rights abuses and dis- in Guatemala and Peru in the mid-1990s placements that occurred during the war and included provisions relating to the return recommended reparation. Its impact on the and reintegration of the displaced, but they lives of IDPs remains to be seen. Neither in have never been fully implemented. As a Colombia nor in Mexico concrete steps have result, it is unclear how many IDPs have been taken to comply with the recommenda- returned or reintegrated locally and how tions made by the Representative of the UN many still require assistance and reparation. Secretary-General on Internally Displaced In the case of Guatemala, return pro- Persons following his visit to these countries grammes for displaced communities did not in 1999 and 2002, respectively. Similarly, include IDPs who had taken refuge in cities many of the provisions pertaining to the re- or were dispersed across rural areas. In Mex- turn and reintegration of IDPs, which were ico, thousands have returned, but many still part of the peace agreements of countries in live under threat of the paramilitaries and the region, have been ignored. For example, have not been compensated for the land and in Guatemala the government has failed to property lost. Durable solutions for dis- fulfil its land allocation commitments to the placed Colombians will be hard to achieve dispersed displaced so that many thousands until a peaceful solution to the conflict is are still waiting to go home. In the case of found. Nevertheless, returns promoted by Peru, the government established the Project the government are ongoing, but they are in Support of Repopulation (PAR) in 1993 often prompted by the lack of assistance to facilitate the resettlement of IDPs, but has available to IDPs, and take place in spite of not established any programmes to integrate the continued presence of armed actors those people wishing to stay in urban cen- fighting over territorial control in areas of tres. return. The demands of displaced people in the region to have their land rights legalised; More than anywhere else in the world, civil to regain their properties; and to have better society in the Americas has shown resilience access to health and education in order to and the displaced have organised into self- rebuild sustainable livelihoods, remain a help and advocacy groups. Supported by a challenge to their governments. vast solidarity network of church associa- tions and human rights organisations, IDPs have been able to articulate their demands, bring their governments to the negotiating table, and draw international attention to their plight. Among the organisations that

18 have been most successful in assisting dis- agency’s perceived neutrality, impartiality placed people to recover identification pa- and mandate to safeguard international hu- pers and reclaim their land and property are manitarian law, places it in the best position the National Council of the Displaced in to gain access to affected IDPs on all sides Guatemala (CONDEG) and the Reconstruc- of conflict zones. In Colombia and Mexico, tion and Development Association of the the ICRC is one of the few international or- Andean Communities in Peru, as well as a ganisations working directly with the IDPs. number of influential NGOs in Colombia. UN agencies including UNHCR, UNDP, IDPs in both Peru and Colombia have UNICEF, IOM and WFP have also been formed national coordination bodies. How- directly involved with national authorities in ever, the work of organisations defending support of their response to IDPs. In Co- IDP demands in Latin America has been lombia, a Humanitarian Plan of Action was seriously undermined by the assassination of launched in late 2002, designed by the The- some of their members, intimidation and matic Group on Displacement led by under-funding. Government officials in Co- UNHCR. The plan is the first effort to adopt lombia and Peru have at times accused a coordinated response to the needs of dis- NGOs working with IDPs of linkages with placed people and to foster more effective “terrorist” groups, thus further endangering application of national laws for IDPs. their safety. Internal displacement is still a major concern Regionally, there are various noteworthy in Latin America, and unless governments, initiatives aimed at tackling the problem of donors and international actors give it more internal displacement. The 1989 Interna- attention, the needs of IDPs will remain tional Conference on Central American largely unaddressed. The recent waves of Refugees (CIREFCA) and the UN multi- protest and violence in Peru and Guatemala agency Development Programme for Dis- highlighted the risk of return to violence placed Persons, Refugees and Returnees in unless popular demands and social inequali- Central America (PRODERE) both focused ties are properly addressed. on the return and reintegration of uprooted populations. In addition, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the Organisation of American States (OAS) appointed a Special Rapporteur for IDPs in 1996. The OAS was the first regional body to endorse the UN Guiding Principles and apply them to its work. Although under- funding seriously limits its impact, the Commission has initiated preventive action for Colombian IDPs.

Over time, governments and international actors in Peru and Guatemala have increas- ingly targeted IDPs alongside other poor and vulnerable populations. IDPs indeed have similar needs as other homeless and landless local populations, but the blurring of catego- ries threatens to deny the displaced people protection, restitution and compensation rights. Among international humanitarian agencies, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has often been the most active in providing for the displaced. The

19 Asia-Pacific

With some 3.6 million IDPs, Asia-Pacific is peaceful settlements of secessionist or revo- the region second most affected by conflict- lutionary struggles, namely in Indonesia’s induced displacement in the world. In addi- Aceh province, in the Philippines’ southern tion, the region is also by far the most af- island of Mindanao and in Nepal. Human fected by natural disasters which leaves rights observers are concerned that such hundreds of thousands homeless and dis- operations are often accompanied by human placed, with their livelihoods destroyed, rights violations, with vulnerable groups, every year. Large-scale infrastructure pro- like the internally displaced, being particu- jects also cause displacement, forcing many larly at risk. to leave their homes, often without appro- priate measures to mitigate their plight and assistance to restart their lives. The number Conflict patterns and main causes of IDPs in Asia-Pacific equals that of refu- of displacement gees from the region. Across the region, conflicts causing internal Although the stabilisation of some conflict displacement display some common patterns situations in the region has allowed major such as the legacy of colonial rule and in- return movements to take place in the course complete state-building processes. Although of 2003, hundreds of thousands were also seemingly ethnic or religious in nature, forced out of their homes during the year. In many conflicts in Asia are rooted in poverty addition, large numbers of people remain and the exclusion of certain regions or social unable to return after many years away from groups from the economic development their homes. Return and resettlement con- process. These socio-economic cleavages tinued during 2003 in Indonesia, Afghani- express themselves as political tensions and stan and Sri Lanka, albeit at a slower pace the stigmatisation of certain ethnic or reli- than during 2002. Countries where people gious groups – often manipulated by local were newly displaced by conflict and fight- elites. The inter-religious conflict in the ing during 2003 include the Philippines, Maluku province of Indonesia, which has Nepal, Indonesia (Aceh), India, Burma and since 1999 caused the displacement of over to a lesser extent Afghanistan. In Bangla- a quarter of a million people, is a good illus- desh, Indonesia (Central Kalimantan), the tration of a situation where economic dis- Solomon Islands, Pakistan and Uzbekistan parities, and their exploitation by politicians no new significant displacement has taken and the military, have fuelled religious po- place but tensions and unresolved issues larisation and conflict. still prevent return. Transmigration policies have often been at The “war on terror” now entering its third the root of conflicts in the region, especially year continues to have an impact on the in Indonesia and the Solomon Islands where plight of internally displaced people in Asia. violence has been linked to growing ethnic Tighter asylum regulations and refugee bar- or religious differences and land disputes. riers erected in many western countries, in- The economic success and political pre- cluding Australia, have meant that people dominance of migrant groups in an overall fleeing conflict have often been left with no depressed economic landscape has created other option than to seek protection within deep resentment among local populations. the borders of their native countries. Fur- Transmigration programmes in Indonesia thermore, several governments in 2003 con- undertaken by President Suharto during the tinued or intensified what they refer to as 1960s planted the seeds of present conflicts “counter-terrorist” operations. In some in that country. Likewise, in the Solomon cases this has undermined opportunities for

20 Islands, migrant Malaitans who dominated New displacements during 2003 the capital Honiara were forced from their homes in June 1999 by local Guadalcanalese The main cause for conflict-induced dis- militias frustrated by the lack, as they saw it, placement in Asia during 2003 was an inten- of economic opportunities left for indige- sification of fighting between government nous people. security forces and rebel groups, often la- belled as “terrorists”. Fighting between secessionist or rebel movements and the ruling state has been a In the Philippines, fighting between the se- main cause for displacement in Burma, Sri curity forces and the rebel MILF in the Lanka, the Philippines (southern island of southern island of Mindanao displaced some Mindanao), Nepal and in western Indonesia 400,000 people in early 2003. Although (Aceh). In many cases it has become a strat- most have been able to return after the fight- egy of government troops to forcibly dis- ing subsided, more than 100,000 people re- place civilians as a means of weakening the mained displaced towards the end of the resource base of insurgents. The brutal dis- year, waiting for peace and security to return placement of ethnic minorities by the Bur- before going back. Military operations mese military regime, in an attempt to con- against other groups in the south of Min- trol the country’s border areas, has forced danao, directly supported by United States hundreds of thousands out of their homes. In as part of the “war on terror”, have also addition, thousands more have been dis- caused new displacement during the year. placed in schemes to resettle the urban poor and in the building of large-scale infrastruc- In Nepal, a ceasefire agreement signed be- ture projects. Displacement in north-east tween the government and Maoist rebels at India reflects a situation where ethnic ten- the start of 2003 crumbled after peace talks sions arising from migrant influxes, land broke down in August and fighting resumed. disputes and limited access to political or Since the conflict started in the mid-1990s, economic power, has led to the emergence hundreds of thousands of people have been of secessionist movements. These groups uprooted across the country. No reliable fig- have often used violent means to force cer- ures exist on the total number of people dis- tain populations out of their homes. placed, but the most realistic estimates put their number between 100,000 and 200,000 Other causes of displacement in Asia in- by end-2003. Most of the displaced have clude the low intensity war waged by India either flocked to the main cities or fled the and Pakistan for the disputed Kashmir re- conflict to India. gion; persecution against ethnic Pashtuns in northern Afghanistan; and the assimilation Although most of Indonesia’s former hot policies and disputed land issues in the Chit- spots are now in a post-conflict recovery tagong Hill Tracts in the eastern part of phase, in May 2003 the government Bangladesh. Incursions by Islamic extrem- launched a huge military operation in the ists from neighbouring Tajikistan prompted western province of Aceh where a rebel the government of Uzbekistan to forcibly group has been operating for more than 25 displace several thousand ethnic Tajiks from years. Martial law was imposed and the se- the border region. In Turkmenistan, the gov- curity forces forcibly displaced more than ernment uses forced displacement to punish 100,000 people. The international commu- dissidents and their families, and increase nity has been denied access to the affected control over national minorities. population. While many have been able to

21 return in other areas of the country during labour, forced recruitment, landmines, and 2003, some 600,000 people remain dis- limited freedom of movement. placed (not including those uprooted in Aceh). In Afghanistan, the ethnic Pashtuns have, since the end of 2001, been targeted for their In India, attacks by separatist militants in real or perceived association with the former Kashmir continued to create new displace- Taliban, as well as for their control of scarce ment and prevent the return of an estimated resources. Some 60,000 have been forced to 350,000 IDPs who fled the Kashmir Valley leave their homes since the end of 2001. in 1989. Civilians living on both sides of the Many have been unable to return and remain Line of Control dividing Indian and Paki- in camps, mainly in the south but also in the stani controlled Kashmir continued to be west. In 2002, Human Rights Watch docu- displaced because of shelling by both sides. mented widespread abuses against Pashtun Both the Pakistani and Indian governments IDPs in camps in the north, including forci- claimed that fighting in Kashmir was part of ble relocations and sexual violence. Assis- the global “war on terror”. tance in the camps near Herat in the west was gradually phased out during 2003. In north-east India, armed conflicts between numerous local insurgent groups may have In the Indonesian western province of Aceh, displaced more than 250,000 people in re- the military operation launched in May 2003 cent years. Towards the end of 2003, ethnic has caused concerns among the international violence in the state of Assam led more than community that a major humanitarian crisis 20,000 people to flee and settle in relief was in the making. Prior to the latest offen- camps. An unknown number of people also sive, livelihood assessments in the province remain displaced in the state of Gujarat after had shown that years of conflict had dis- an outbreak of religiously motivated com- rupted the livelihoods of all civilians in munal violence in February 2002. Aceh with the displaced particularly af- fected. Fighting since May 2003 has further In Afghanistan, tensions and fighting in the aggravated the living conditions of an al- north between rival warlords have continued ready fragile population, disrupting food to displace people to the south and pre- supplies, electricity, water, schooling and vented their return. Many refugees and IDPs access to healthcare for hundreds of thou- who had returned since 2002 have found sands. After having been denied access to their homes or land taken by other displaced the affected population during the first six persons or local commanders and have been months of the offensive, a few UN agencies, forced into a new cycle of displacement. as well as the ICRC were given authoriza- Most have chosen to head for the main cities tion to re-establish a presence at the end of of Kabul, Jalalabad or Kandahar where they 2003. mingle with urban and economic migrants while others have sought refuge with their In Sri Lanka, critics contend that the cease- relatives, making it in both cases very diffi- fire agreement and ongoing negotiations cult to assess their number. UNHCR puts the between the government and the rebel LTTE current number of IDPs at 185,000, the vast have paid little attention to human rights, majority living in camps in the south. with both parties reluctant to examine the abuses of the past. This may foster a climate of impunity and injustice unlikely to help Human rights and humanitarian reconciliation. Some 100,000 displaced needs people interned for years in state-run welfare centres face destitution. As the conflict IDPs throughout Asia are exposed to a num- dragged on, welfare centres designed as a ber of human right violations, including in- temporary solution became semi-permanent discriminate bombing of civilians, forced with some IDPs spending a decade living in

22 squalid, overcrowded conditions. In addition in Sri Lanka where more than 300,000 peo- to frequent food shortages caused by the ple have returned home since a ceasefire inability of the state to mobilise resources to ended 20 years of hostilities in 2002. De- assist these vulnerable groups, displaced spite the ceasefire, however, many remain people also face serious psycho-social prob- displaced, and many of those who have been lems stemming from long-term stays in wel- able to return have not done so in safety and fare centres. These include high rates of sui- dignity. Apart from landmines, returning cide, dependency attitudes, loss of self- IDPs face safety threats, property disposses- esteem, alcoholism and depression. sion, landlessness and a lack of basic infra- structure and basic services. Over 600,000 are still displaced in the country. The politi- Obstacles to safe and dignified cal crisis between the President and the gov- return ernment in late 2003 raised concern that the peace and return process could be jeopard- Although in 2002 there were large-scale re- ised. turn movements in the three countries most affected by displacement in Asia in recent Apart from Aceh, no new significant inci- years – Afghanistan, Indonesia and Sri dents of displacement have occurred in In- Lanka –, the same positive developments donesia during 2003. This relative stability were not maintained during 2003. Lack of has allowed for major return movements, assistance and self-reliance opportunities; and many displaced people lost IDP status land and property disputes; continued hostil- after receiving a termination grant from the ity from local populations; and continued government. Areas where return has been fighting meant that many IDPs preferred to possible during 2003 include central Su- wait before returning, or instead chose to be lawesi, north Maluku, and – to a lesser ex- resettled or integrated in their area of dis- tent – the Maluku province and central Ka- placement. limantan. Local hostility continued to hamper return in many areas. In Afghanistan, only 70,000 IDPs returned during 2003 as compared to some 400,000 In the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh, IDPs during 2002. Many of those who re- the majority of people who had to flee dur- turned in 2002, including the refugees, were ing a two decade long armed-conflict be- not properly informed of the conditions in tween local insurgent groups and the Bang- areas of return and of the assistance they ladeshi government remain displaced would get. In 2003, many chose to wait and because of unresolved land disputes with see before returning. The scaling down of Bengali settlers. humanitarian operations since mid-2003, following a significant deterioration in the security situation in many areas of the coun- National and international re- try and repeated attacks on aid workers, has sponse affected reconstruction and assistance pro- grammes. This has put into question the sus- The response provided by national authori- tainability of the return of IDPs and the ap- ties to the crisis of internal displacement in proximately two million refugees. Apart the Asia-Pacific region varies greatly from from insecurity, the main problem faced by one country to the other. Few governments returnees and displaced people are issues have the capacity or the political will to related to land and property. comprehensively address the concerns and needs of their uprooted population, let alone Landmines and episodes of shelling and in- the root causes of the conflicts leading to surgency also obstructed safe return for such displacement. IDPs from Indian controlled Kashmir. Landmines are also a major cause of concern

23 Countries where an IDP strategy has been step up their own “anti-terrorist” operations devised to assist in the protection and assis- against insurgent and rebel groups. Linking tance given to the displaced and their return such operations to the “war on terror” has to their homes include Sri Lanka, Afghani- enabled governments to escape international stan and Indonesia. involvement and criticism, and thus broad- ened the spectrum of pursuing military solu- In Sri Lanka, the government and the LTTE, tions to conflicts. with the help of the international commu- nity, are in the process of settling the 25- The Indonesian government, for example, year long civil war and assisting with the denied international access to the population return of the close to one million people dis- affected by the military offensive launched placed over the years. The government and in Aceh in May 2003 on the grounds that it the UN have jointly devised an IDP return considers the fight against the “GAM terror- and resettlement strategy, and the LTTE has ists” an “internal problem”. been closely associated with it. Although many issues need to be settled before all can Similarly, the only international assistance return, there is hope that the commitment welcomed by the Nepalese government, in shown by all parties will eventually pave the the context of the ongoing conflict, is the way for the safe return of all the displaced. provision of military equipment and training to its armed forces. The government has not In Afghanistan, the government in close col- issued any IDP-specific strategy and has so laboration with the UN is now focusing its far not taken any steps to acknowledge the efforts on finding solutions for the estimated displacement crisis caused by the fighting 200,000 IDPs still living in camps in the and its impact on the already exhausted cop- south and unable to return due to the contin- ing mechanisms of the population. Limited ued drought and the persistence of ethnic assistance has been provided to those dis- tensions in the north. The operation plan for placed by the Maoists, but those displaced the south will seek to identify long-term so- by the actions of the security forces are not lutions within a time frame of three years. recognised as IDPs, nor do they qualify for Another operation plan is expected to be any assistance from the authorities. The vast drawn up for the estimated 20,000 IDPs liv- majority of aid agencies are implementing ing in the west. development programmes. None of them are specifically addressing the emergency assis- Aceh apart, the government of Indonesia has tance needs of IDPs. generally acknowledged its responsibility vis-à-vis IDPs and shown commitment to Similar to Nepal, some countries refuse to assisting them at the various stages of dis- acknowledge any displacement problem and placement. In September 2001, it formulated consequently often deny access to this vul- a national policy to address the problem of nerable group. In Burma, the military regime internal displacement in the country. Assis- continues to harass the country’s internally tance was stopped for some IDPs at the end displaced population and many are forced to of 2002, but extended for others until the survive by their own means, in the jungle or end of 2003, at which point the government with relatives. International humanitarian expected the IDP problem to be “solved”. actors are denied access to more than 500,000 IDPs in the border areas towards It is a recurrent feature that Asian countries Thailand. consider any external intervention from the international community as a violation of In India, where IDPs often live under pre- their sovereignty and interference in their carious conditions in relief camps, there is domestic affairs. The ongoing “war on ter- no national IDP policy and the government ror” and the war in Iraq during 2003 appear systematically refers to IDPs as “migrants”. to have encouraged some governments to The Indian government also frequently de-

24 nies international access to the affected Absence of regional mechanisms populations. Asia has no dedicated regional mechanisms It should also be noted that in some coun- to deal with problems of internal displace- tries, the problem of internal displacement is ment. Most regional efforts to coordinate largely ignored by the international commu- and improve the response to internal dis- nity. International organisations and donor placement in Asia come from non- countries have for example done little to governmental organisations, national human address or even monitor the situation of rights commissions and academic research- those internally displaced by conflict in In- ers, including within the framework of the dia and Bangladesh. The effect of the Iraq Asia Pacific Forum of National Human war has seemingly diverted the donors’ at- Rights Institutions. tention away from other displacement situa- tions where financial assistance is urgently needed. Availability of funding is particu- larly important in countries were large num- bers of IDPs are now returning home and are in need of assistance to restart their lives. Towards the end of 2003 only half of the amount required to assist IDPs and other vulnerable populations in Indonesia had been forthcoming. In Afghanistan, the dete- riorating security situation has apparently discouraged many donors from funding pro- grammes targeting the residual caseload of IDPs and assisting the return of refugees and displaced persons, thereby undermining the sustainability of their return.

25 Europe

A quarter of Europe’s 45 states – eleven Durable return? countries in all – are affected by internal displacement. By the end of 2003 at least South-eastern Europe has seen the bulk of three million people across Europe were the return movements of IDPs and refugees internally displaced, more than twice the in recent years, notably in Croatia and Bos- number of refugees originating from the nia and Herzegovina. This major achieve- continent. The main wave of these displace- ment can be largely attributed to the in- ments followed the end of the Cold War with volvement of the international community the outbreak of ethnic conflict in the former and its determination to overcome resistance Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union in the early of nationalist forces and reverse the ethnic 1990s. More than a decade later many of cleansing they had carried out during the these people remain displaced. In more re- war. The return process has been sustained cent years, further displacements have taken by the enforcement of property rights, a place in Serbia and Montenegro (Kosovo), principle written into the Dayton Peace Macedonia, Turkey and the Russian Federa- Agreement which ended the war in Bosnia tion (Chechnya). Over the past three years, and Herzegovina in December 1995. As a the number of internally displaced people in result, a significant number of IDPs have Europe has decreased by more than half a been able to go back to areas dominated by million as large numbers of IDPs have been other ethnic groups (minority returns). able to return in several countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Mace- However, the return of IDPs in south-eastern donia and the Russian Federation. Europe remains a fragile process, and its completion will take more time. In Bosnia With the overall improvement in the IDP and Croatia, return areas are severely hit by situation has come the inevitable decline in economic depression and offer little oppor- interest in the plight of those millions of tunities for returnees to sustain their own people who remain unable to go home. life. The situation is worse for minority re- There has been a shifting of responsibility turnees, who often face discrimination with for IDPs among international agencies as regard to access to public services, recon- humanitarian agencies have reduced their struction assistance, and jobs. Observers on IDP activities in the expectation that devel- the ground report that many returnees have opment actors will start providing long-term chosen to sell their properties and relocate responses. In particular, one of the main permanently elsewhere in their country. Du- IDP advocates, the UN High Commissioner rable solutions for those still internally dis- for Refugees, has reduced its IDP activities placed largely depend on the provision of in Europe. Apart from the direct support reconstruction and housing assistance and given to IDPs, this has also affected the IDP sustained advocacy efforts on the part of the protection expertise provided to national international community. The remaining authorities. In the wake of this, other or- IDPs in Macedonia and Moldova, although ganisations, notably the Organisation for much smaller in numbers, face similar con- Cooperation and Security in Europe straints on their return. (OSCE), are signalling to step up their in- volvement in the IDP issue. In the longer In the Russian Federation, federal authorities term it is hoped that the prospect of joining have been keen on accelerating the return of the European Union, which requires com- IDPs to Chechnya despite the worrying se- pliance with human rights standards, will be curity conditions in the war-torn republic. a powerful incentive for many countries to Intimidation, de-registration from aid lists find durable solutions for their internally and the closure of tent camps have all been displaced. used to exert pressure on IDPs to return to

26 Chechnya. As a result, the number of IDPs on the agenda of the UN administration in registered by international agencies in the Kosovo, but the violence overshadowing northern Caucasus decreased from an esti- inter-ethnic relations in the province has mated 200,000 in 2000 to 70,000 at the end prevented any substantial return movements. of 2003. This decrease is misleading, how- In Turkey, the government has launched a ever, as in many cases it does not reflect the return and resettlement programme for peo- finding of durable solutions. Most returnees ple evicted from their villages during the have found themselves in very precarious conflict in the south-eastern part of the living conditions after going back; some country. However, there are concerns that were even forced to move into collective the programme may not adequately take into centres because their own homes had been account IDPs’ needs, and that only a small destroyed. fraction of the displaced population has been able to benefit from this initiative. In Cy- International organisations generally face no prus, people have been displaced for three constraints accessing victims of internal dis- decades, since the invasion by Turkish placement in the region and monitor their troops and the island’s division in 1974. return, with the notable exception of the Prospects of ending displacement in Cyprus Russian Federation and Turkey. In these two have been closely connected to ongoing ef- countries, UN agencies and NGOs have long forts to settle the long-standing conflict be- been unable to maintain an international fore the accession of Greek Cyprus to the presence in areas affected by internal dis- European Union in 2004. placement because of insecurity or political obstruction. The recent visits of the UN With the exception of Cyprus, IDPs are Representative on Internally Displaced Per- waiting for durable solutions in squalid con- sons to Turkey in 2002 and the Russian ditions, packed into sub-standard shelters, Federation in 2003 signaled growing open- with poor access to water and other utilities, ness on the issue by the two governments, and with very little possibility of generating and were seen as first steps towards ac- income. As a result, their physical and men- knowledging the problem and implementing tal health deteriorates, and reports show they durable solutions in line with international suffer from nutritional deficiencies, epidem- standards. ics and social marginalisation. In some countries, discriminatory practices and poli- cies have made IDPs second-class citizens, Protracted displacement with restrictions on their voting rights, ac- cess to documentation, freedom of move- As a whole, the return of IDPs to their ment, and access to public services. places of origin remains the exception in Europe. In several countries, the number of Despite the long-term nature of many dis- IDPs has hardly changed for years, despite placement situations, governments are often the fighting which caused the displacement, reluctant to consider resettlement and inte- having ended a long time ago. A total of 2.2 gration of IDPs in other areas of the country, million IDPs are caught in such long-term in particular in cases where IDPs were dis- displacement situations in Azerbaijan, placed from secessionist or occupied territo- Georgia, Serbia and Montenegro, Turkey ries no longer under the control of the gov- and Cyprus. ernment. In Azerbaijan and Georgia, for example, the governments have long kept In Azerbaijan and Georgia, the internally IDPs deliberately in difficult humanitarian displaced have become hostages of conflicts conditions and in legal limbo as they feared that have been “frozen” for more than a dec- that resettlement and integration would ade, and prospects for their return in the near amount to an implicit acknowledgement of future are extremely limited. In Serbia and the status quo and thus weaken their claim Montenegro, the return of Serb Kosovars is on the lost territories. It was only in 2002

27 that the government of Azerbaijan, for ex- and capacity support provided to national ample, started to allocate more substantial authorities with regard to the protection of resources to the provision of alternative ac- IDPs in several countries. commodation for IDPs in rural areas, with the objective of closing down all camps by 2004. At the same time, as the case of Cy- A role for regional organisations prus shows, displaced communities may be unwilling to renounce their identity of “dis- Regional political or human rights organisa- placed persons” as long as they remain un- tions in Europe have therefore a consider- able to return home or recover their lost able role to play with regard to internal dis- property. placement. Their own mandate and capacity have already allowed them to complement or take over some of the protection and ad- Protection in transition vocacy functions, which were being done until now by UN agencies for IDPs in the With the exception of the Russian Federa- region. But much remains to be done to en- tion, the immediate emergency phase in all sure that these contributions are consistent situations of internal displacement in the throughout the region. region has now ended and governments have progressively modified their approach to the Thanks to its comprehensive approach to problem of IDPs. They have moved away security and its large field presence, the from humanitarian assistance, and instead OSCE has made a valuable contribution to made efforts to mainstream their response to the search of durable solutions to internal the protection and assistance needs of IDPs displacement. In Bosnia and Croatia, OSCE into development strategies and poverty re- field missions have promoted and closely duction plans. In several countries, this monitored the process of restitution of prop- means the phasing-out of direct assistance to erties to pre-war owners. In the south Cau- IDPs, as it is expected that IDPs will take casus, the OSCE, in 2000-2002, sponsored a advantage of the benefits provided by the legal survey, jointly with the Brookings In- regular social welfare system as other citi- stitution, on the compliance of national leg- zens do. The Russian Federation remains the islation with the Guiding Principles on In- only situation of internal displacement in the ternal Displacement in Armenia, Azerbaijan region considered a humanitarian emergency and Georgia. By explicitly confirming the by UN agencies. usefulness of the Guiding Principles for the work of the organisation and its member In this delicate transition period for IDPs, a states in a decision adopted in December process of shifting responsibility for IDPs 2003, OSCE foreign ministers signalled among international agencies has also been support for a stronger role of the OSCE on going on. Humanitarian agencies have re- IDPs. duced their activities on behalf of IDPs, as they expect development actors to step in The various institutions of the Council of and provide long-term responses. In particu- Europe have also been increasingly involved lar, IDPs have progressively lost some of the in the issue of internal displacement. The attention given to them by one of their main Parliamentary Assembly has long monitored advocates, the UN High Commissioner for displacement situations in Europe through Refugees. IDPs have been of concern to the the appointment of ad-hoc rapporteurs. On UN refugee agency in eight of the eleven 25 November 2003, the Assembly recom- situations of internal displacement in the mended the organisation’s Committee of region. But the UNHCR’s provision of as- Ministers to examine the situation of IDPs sistance and protection of IDPs in the region more systematically and to contribute to the has decreased in all countries during recent promotion of the Guiding Principles at the years. This has also affected the expertise European level. The Council of Europe’s

28 Commissioner for Human Rights has visited The situation of IDPs is also expected to countries affected by internal displacement, influence the integration of the countries of and issued recommendations to the relevant the Western Balkans into the EU. The im- national authorities with regard to their minent accession of southern Cyprus to the treatment of IDPs. Finally, the European EU in May 2004 boosted support for the Court of Human Rights has passed several island’s reunification at parliamentary elec- landmark judgments about violations of the tions in the Turkish part in December 2003. right to respect for home and property in Potentially, this could pave the way for a situations of internal displacement, such as settlement on the return of IDPs and the res- Cyprus and Turkey. Numerous applications titution of their properties. in relation to displacement in Chechnya have also been lodged to the Court.

The prospect of joining the European Union has been a strong incentive for European countries to implement durable solutions for IDPs, as compliance with European human rights standards, particularly with regard to the protection of minorities, is one of the key criteria to be fulfilled by candidates for EU membership. The EU Commission regu- larly monitors the applicants’ human rights progress, including its record on the treat- ment of IDPs, as in the case of Turkey.

29 Middle East

Causes and areas of displacement Although the Middle East is home to the world’s largest single refugee population – Internal displacement in the Middle East has the Palestinians – regionally, it has one of resulted from religious and ethnic conflicts the smallest internally displaced popula- which have spanned several decades, as well tions. Across the region there are an esti- as competition over land and natural re- mated 1.8 million internally displaced com- sources. In many cases, conflicts and subse- pared to 4.8 million refugees. This estimate quent displacement have led to the resettle- should be treated with caution, however, as ment of populations along ethnic or many IDPs in the region have never been religious lines. In Iraq, the regime of Sad- registered. At the same time, the number dam Hussein, dominated by Sunni Muslim includes many descendants of IDPs, reflect- Arabs, for decades killed or displaced hun- ing the fact that internal displacement in the dreds of thousands of members of the ethnic region has often spanned over several gen- Kurdish minority, culminating in the 1988 erations. In fact, over half the internally dis- Anfal campaign during which more than placed people in the Middle East have been 100,000 Kurds lost their lives. Until the eve displaced for at least twenty years. of the US-led intervention in Iraq, the re- gime pursued a policy of “Arabisation”, ex- The main event affecting IDPs in the Middle pelling the non-Arab population – Kurds, East in 2003 was the US-led armed inter- Assyrians and Turkomens – from the oil- vention in Iraq followed by the overthrowing rich region of Kirkuk and replacing them of Saddam Hussein’s regime. The UN had with ethnic Arabs from the south in an at- feared that an additional one million people tempt to increase control over the region’s would become displaced within Iraq as a natural resources by changing its ethnic result of the war. While displacement did character. The government also uprooted not take place on this scale, close to 80,000 large numbers of Shia Muslim Arabs in the people were forced from their homes during southern marshlands in retaliation for their the fighting. In the wake of the fall of Sad- alleged support of the uprising against the dam Hussein, a number of international hu- regime in the wake of the end of the first manitarian organisations, including some Gulf War in 1991. assisting IDPs, established a presence in Iraq. Many left the country in the second Hundreds of thousands of people were in- part of the year, however, because of grow- ternally displaced by the civil war in Leba- ing insecurity and the direct targeting of non from 1975 to 1990. Some 300,000 IDPs humanitarian actors. This reduction in hu- remain unable to return because of contin- manitarian operations in Iraq has dimin- ued instability in the southern part of the ished the likelihood of finding durable solu- country, which despite the withdrawal of the tions for the many Iraqis who remain Israeli army in 2000 is still plagued by displaced in the near future. clashes between the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah and Israeli forces. The The situation of the internally displaced in wars between Israel and its neighbours after other parts of the Middle East did not im- 1948 caused large-scale displacement, in- prove over the past year. The current state cluding the internal displacement of Arabs of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has caused within Israel and of inhabitants of the Golan additional internal displacement of Pales- Heights within Syria. These IDP popula- tinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, tions, each of whom now totals several hun- and continuing tensions between Israel and dred thousand, have been displaced for dec- Syria have prevented the return of the IDPs ades and there is little prospect for return displaced from the Golan Heights. any time soon.

30 The current Israeli-Palestinian conflict has Durable solutions led to the demolition of the homes of several thousand Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and Over half the IDPs in the Middle East have the West Bank. The construction of a “secu- been displaced for at least twenty years. It is rity barrier” by the Israeli government, difficult to assess whether these long-term which could incorporate up to ten per cent IDPs have in fact integrated into their new of the West Bank, has also displaced people, locations and even whether they should still and cut others off from their land. be considered IDPs. This is particularly the case for many displaced villagers in Leba- non and in northern Iraq, who have been Human rights and humanitarian resettled in urban areas for decades and have situation little incentive to return to their areas of ori- gin where their villages were destroyed or, The human rights situation in the Middle at best, still lack infrastructure and employ- East generally remains poor. Violence ment opportunities. Registration of property against IDPs has been particularly severe in claims and the return process itself have the Palestinian Territories and in Iraq. The been delayed in Iraq due to the growing in- humanitarian situation of people in the Pal- security in the second half of 2003. estinian Territories, whether displaced or not, worsened in 2002 and 2003. Human Another factor slowing or preventing return, rights organisations have reported violations particularly in Lebanon, is that children committed by the Israeli Defence Forces, whose parents were displaced years ago such as unlawful killings and the destruction generally lack strong childhood ties with of civilian property, since the beginning of their family’s place of origin. In the case of the second Intifada in September 2000. In Israel and Syria, however, where the ab- Iraq, extra-judicial killings, torture, forced sence of political solutions has prevented the evictions of minorities and political oppo- return of IDPs for decades, children are still nents were widespread under the previous said to want to return to their parents’ origi- regime. nal homes. It remains to be seen if they will indeed go back if and when the political Internally displaced people are often among situation allows. the poorest and most vulnerable, as in the case of Iraq and the Palestinian Territories. In other cases, IDPs do not have significant National and international re- humanitarian needs over and above those of sponse the rest of the population. The repossession of land and properties is generally their most Governments in the region have provided pressing concern. In Israel, IDPs have been little protection and assistance to the people trying to return to their villages of origin for displaced within their countries. In Lebanon, over 50 years, but so far the Israeli govern- however, the government has identified the ment has not allowed them to do so. People return of the displaced as a key priority, yet displaced within Syria still seek restitution factors such as corruption, political rivalry of their lands in the Golan Heights, an area and budgetary problems have delayed the taken by Israel in 1967. process.

31 In the Middle East, governments generally UN and NGO humanitarian assistance con- impose severe restrictions on freedom of centrates on vulnerable populations in Iraq speech and assembly and the region lacks a and in the Palestinian Territories, including strong civil society to draw attention to the internally displaced people. Humanitarian plight of IDPs. The exception is Israel, access to IDPs in both areas has, however, where numerous associations have been been severely restricted. In Iraq, current in- formed since the early 1990s to campaign security prevents humanitarian agencies for the rights of displaced Israeli Arabs. from assessing the needs of IDPs and re- sponding to them. According to several UN The response to internal displacement at the reports, Israeli authorities have been block- regional level has been weak as the Middle ing delivery of basic food items, medicines East does not have an organisation repre- and fuel to the Gaza Strip, and UN humani- senting all the states in the region. The tarian access to the West Bank has been im- League of Arab States is the only body peded by bureaucratic procedures. UN agen- which does fulfil some kind of a regional cies and NGOs active in the Palestinian function, but it, of course, excludes Israel Territories are increasingly reorienting re- and Iran, and has limited itself to the issue of sources from development to relief to meet displaced Palestinians exclusively. the growing humanitarian needs of the population. In the rest of the region, long- term IDPs are generally neglected.

32 Global IDP Project Norwegian Refugee Council Chemin Moïse-Duboule 59 1209 Geneva, Switzerland Tel.: +41 22 799 07 00, Fax: +41 22 799 07 01

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