IDP or Refugee?
IDP - internally displaced person. IDPs "are individuals or groups of people who are forced to flee their homes to escape armed conflict, generalized violence, human rights abuses, or natural or man-made disasters."1
Sounds like the definition of a refugee doesn't it. We've had articles in this e-Zine referring to both IDPs and refugees because RESPECT works with war-affected communities comprised of both groups. So what is the difference?
The difference is an IDP has not crossed an "internationally recognized State border;"2 they stay in their own country.
There are an estimated 25 million IDPs in the world, mostly women and children. Unlike refugees, IDPs are not protected by international law. And some governments consider the IDPs, their own citizens, 'enemies of the state.'
"These civilians received limited assistance in the past. The International Committee of the Red Cross, as guardian of the Geneva Conventions, has been active in this field for many decades and other agencies and governments began a wider debate in the last few years on how to tackle the crisis and who should be involved. The U.N. Special Representative [for IDPs] produced a booklet, Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, which contains 30 pointers for governments and humanitarian organizations to help the displaced."3
While the events creating IDPs and refugees are the same, in general, the assistance the two groups receive is vastly different. Some IDPs do receive assistance from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), usually, when the UNHCR is working on a project to repatriate refugees into areas where IDPs are located.