The United Nations on Friday launched a yearlong advocacy campaign to help millions of internally displaced persons (IDPs), focusing on mitigating the impact of conflict and natural disasters that drive so many people from their homes within their own country. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has described the displaced people as "one of the greatest humanitarian challenges we face."
"The numbers speak starkly for themselves: one percent of the world's population or 67 million people, internally displaced within any given year; an increase of the number of IDPs due to war alone from 19 million in 1998 to over 26 million in 2007; civilians being displaced in conflict zones at the rate of 100 per hour for 10 years," according to the figures given by the UN.
"The scale of displacement is overwhelming but the numbers only tell part of the story," Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes told a news conference. "They do not reveal the extent of violent abuse, desperation, destitution, and despair which often accompanies displacement."
"They do not reveal the fact that many of those displaced in situations of conflict experience multiple displacements, and that each new displacement brings a new round of damaged hope and compounded despair."
The number of those displaced by natural disasters is also significantly increasing, in part due to the impact of climate change, with large-scale disasters, which commonly cause massive displacements quadrupling over the past 20 years, the UN said. It is estimated that approximately 50 million people around the world are displaced by hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, landslides, and flooding.
Just this year, days after Cyclone Nargis displaced up to 800,000 people in Myanmar, 15 million others were uprooted by the Sichuan earthquake in China. The campaign marks the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, which unlike refugees who cross national borders, does not have a specific agency dedicated to it, although the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has increasingly taken on the responsibility.
The Principles stress that the primary responsibility for IDPs lies with the national authorities, but the UN and its partners stand ready to support them in overcoming the many challenges which internal displacement presents. Holmes cited preventing and ending internal displacement as the two key areas that require concerted action by all stakeholders.
Investment in disaster risk reduction strategies, better preparedness and early warning mechanisms has been proved to reduce the scale of displacement in natural disasters, while the international community must act to ensure parties to conflicts adhere to international law ensuring prevention of arbitrary displacement.
"Those responsible for arbitrary displacement where it constitutes a violation of international law must be held accountable 'we cannot simply talk about ending impunity for arbitrary displacement' action must be taken," Holmes said.