PANTONE P 108-16 C THEMATIC SERIES HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT Children, women, older people, men, youth, people living with disabilities and people from marginalised groups all experience internal displacement differently. This thematic series investigates the various ways in which people’s lives can be affected in relation with their pre-existing characteristics. TWICE INVISIBLE Accounting for internally displaced children NOVEMBER 2019 www.internal-displacement.org ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IDMC’s research on internally displaced children was made possible by the financial support of: the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Liechtenstein’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We are grateful for the dedication of Gabriel Dauer, Matt Kinsella, Joyce Takaindisa, Phillippa Tichotova and Sophie Qu, who all provided voluntary research support via the United Nations Online Volunteering platform. We also thank Sonia Gomez (Norwegian Refugee Council), Laurent Grosbois (Save the Children), Patrick Montjourides (NORRAG), Christian Stoff (Education Cannot Wait) and the International Institute for Educational Planning’s team at UNESCO for their thorough review and invaluable inputs in the development of this report. Author: Christelle Cazabat Editor: Steven Ambrus Design and layout: Rachel Natali Cover photo: A newly installed hand washing station is the object of curiosity for the children living in an IDP camp in Ethiopia. Photo: NRC/Sidney Kung’u, April 2017. TWICE INVISIBLE Accounting for internally displaced children NOVEMBER 2019 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5 INTRODUCTION 6 KEY FIGURES 7 DIFFERENTIATED IMPACTS 12 | Security. 12 | Health . 12 | Education. 14 | Knowledge gaps . 15 PROTECTING AND SUPPORTING INTERNALLY DISPLACED CHILDREN 16 | Protecting the integrity and the wellbeing of internally displaced children. 16 | Ensuring access to quality education . 18 | Keeping children with their families and communities. 18 | Supporting unaccompanied and orphaned children . 18 | Considering the child’s perspective . 19 | Improving knowledge on internally displaced children. 19 CONCLUSION 20 ANNEX 21 NOTES 23 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Internally displaced children are twice invisible in global Children are commonly viewed as one of the most and national data.1 First, because internally displaced vulnerable groups of people in internal displacement people (IDPs) of all ages are often unaccounted for. associated with conflict, violence or disasters. This report Second, because age-disaggregation of any kind of data presents examples showing why that may be, although is limited, and even more so for IDPs. the impacts of internal displacement vary greatly from one context to the next. In rare cases, when the right Planning adequate responses to meet the needs of inter- policies are in place, displaced children may even expe- nally displaced children, however, requires having at rience an improvement in their living conditions, with least a sense of how many there are and where they are. increased access to healthcare or education, for instance. This report presents the first estimates of the number of children living in internal displacement triggered by Most reports on internally displaced children, however, conflict and violence at the global, regional and national point to harm to their security, physical and mental levels. health and access to quality education.2 This harm, if unaddressed, can have repercussions that will last into There are 17 million children living in internal displace- adulthood and even after displacement. ment because of conflict or violence around the world, and millions more whose displacement was associated Given that more than 40 per cent of all people internally with disasters, climate change or other causes. About displaced by conflict and violence are under the age of 5.2 million are under the age of five. About 9.2 million 18, any attempt at preventing or responding to internal are of primary and lower-secondary school age, between displacement should include a focus on children. They 5 and 14. An additional 2.5 million are between the ages have remained invisible in internal displacement data of 15 and 17. and overlooked in many policies and debates on the phenomenon. This report is intended to demonstrate Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for the largest number of the scale and urgency of the issue and serve as a base- IDPs under the age of 18, with an estimated 8.2 million, line against which progress can be assessed in coming or 48 per cent of the global population of internally years. displaced children. The Middle East and North Africa account for about 4.4 million IDPs under 18, followed by Central and South America with 1.9 million, South Asia with 1.6 million, Europe and Central Asia with about 705,000 and East Asia and the Pacific with 251,000. The countries with the highest estimated number of IDPs under the age of 18 are Syria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Colombia, Somalia, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Yemen and Ethiopia, each of them accounting for more than a million children living in internal displacement. Twice invisible: Accounting for internally displaced children 5 INTRODUCTION Children and their families can be forced to leave their This report presents the first global, regional and home for many reasons. They may be displaced by national estimates of the number of children living conflict or violence, disasters, climate change, evic- in internal displacement associated with conflict and tions or other causes. Although those who cross an violence. There were at least 17 million such children international border, including refugees and asylum at the end of 2018, nearly half of them in Sub-Saharan seekers, often make the headlines, twice as many Africa. That does not include millions more displaced remain displaced within their own country. Forty-one- because of disasters, climate change or other causes. million people displaced because of conflict or violence alone were accounted for across the world at the end In addition to these figures, this report presents some of of 2018.3 the impacts of internal displacement children experience more often than adults. It also looks at policies and These IDPs, however, receive much less attention, and practices from around the world to identify options for we know less about them. The global number of people supporting and protecting internally displaced children internally displaced by disasters or climate change, for in different contexts. instance, is still unknown. Most of the time, so is their age and sex. IDPs of different ages and sex, however, Given that more than 40 per cent of all IDPs are under experience internal displacement differently. They face the age of 18, any attempt at preventing or responding different challenges and may access different resources to internal displacement should include a focus on chil- to overcome them. dren. They have remained invisible in internal displace- ment data and overlooked in many policies and debates Internally displaced children are at an especially high on the phenomenon. This report is intended to demon- risk for abuse, neglect and violence, illness and distress, strate the scale and urgency of the issue and serve as poverty and other harm to their current and future a baseline against which progress can be assessed in wellbeing. They require dedicated support from their coming years. governments and the international community, but that is difficult to plan for if they remain unaccounted. 6 HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT KEY FIGURES Internally displaced children are twice invisible in global There are 20 years of unabated internal displacement on and national data. First, because compared to people record. Improving our understanding of the situation so forced to leave their home who cross an international we can take more effective action is urgent. One option border, those who remain in their home country are for getting a sense of the scale of the global phenom- largely unaccounted for. If they find refuge with family enon is to use national age distribution data and apply or friends, they are rarely registered as IDPs. Those who it to the internally displaced population. have to move to displacement camps are relatively better recorded, but they represent a minority of all IDPs world- The figures presented in this report apply the percentage wide. In the Lake Chad Basin, for instance, 80 per cent of the national population in broad age groups, esti- of the people displaced by Boko Haram live in host mated by the UN Population Division’s World Population communities, as do 70 per cent of IDPs in DRC.4 Prospects 2019, to the number of people living in internal displacement because of conflict and violence in each In addition, age disaggregation of any kind of data is country at the end of 2018, as published in the Global limited, and even more so for internal displacement. Report on Internal Displacement 2019.6 This method is Seventy-seven per cent of countries and territories have used for 53 countries for which data is available. age-disaggregated data for international migrants, but only 56 per cent of refugee data includes information The age groups employed throughout this report are on age.5 Meanwhile, out of the nearly 50 countries and commonly used to correspond to children’s specific territories for which IDMC was able to estimate the total needs, including in nutrition, healthcare, education number of IDPs in 2018, only 14 per cent provided age and psychosocial development. These age groups are disaggregation, and only one in four did so systematically. 0 to 1, 2 to 4, 5 to 11 for primary school age, 12 to 14 for lower-secondary school age and 15 to 17 for Knowing exactly how many children are currently living upper-secondary school age. Although school age varies in internal displacement therefore requires better data from one country to another, these age groups are used at the national level.