Internal displacement continues unabated
Ten million new displacements recorded since January 2016
Geneva, Switzerland, 16 September 2016
New estimates published today by IDMC reveal that Syria, Yemen and Turkey have experienced the highest levels of internal displacement this year, with 900,000, 478,000 and 355,000 new displacements by conflict and violence, respectively. Sudden-onset disasters have also forced millions more to flee, with China and Indonesia hardest hit. Flooding in the Yangtze river basin displaced two million people in June and floods in Indonesia have displaced another 946,000.
The updated figures are based on new information made available to IDMC across 16 countries from January-August 2016. These figures can be accessed via IDMC’s Global Internal Displacement Database (GIDD) at http://www.internal-displacement.org/database.
Despite the fact that IDPs now make up two-thirds of the 60 million people displaced by conflict and violence worldwide, next week’s UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants does not plan to address the plight of internally displaced people (IDPs). “Failing to address internal displacement, when people are driven from their homes and seek refugee elsewhere in their country, amounts to treating the symptoms rather than the causes of the global displacement crisis”, said Alexandra Bilak, IDMC’s Director.
In an opinion piece published today via Reuters, IDMC’s Director emphasises that many refugees start off their journeys as IDPs. They flee first inside their country, hoping for assistance and protection that never comes. Only later do they choose or are they forced to cross an international border.
IDMC is working to uncover the complex links between internal and external displacement, and to monitor the plight of those forced to cross borders as a result of a government failure to protect them.
To do this we call on our partners and on national governments to assist us in monitoring all flows in and out of displacement, so that better policies and programmes can be developed to protect IDPs, and in doing so reduce the risk of them fleeing further afield. Only by understanding the roots of internal displacement and addressing its impacts can we start to tackle the global refugee crisis head-on.
CONTACT:
Ms Sian Bowen
Head of Communications
Email: sian.bowen@idmc.ch
Office Tel: 00 41 22 552 3612
Mobile: 00 41 (0) 78 630 16 78
The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) was established by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in 1998. Monitoring internal displacement caused by conflict, violence, human rights violations and natural disasters worldwide, IDMC is widely respected as the leading source of information and analysis on internal displacement throughout the world. http://www.internal-displacement.org
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