Abstract:
Displacement is damaging to people’s lives. Internally displaced people, or IDPs, are often called refugees, but this is wrong. Refugees have more rights than IDPs, yet the last, make up almost two-thirds of the people worldwide today and are seeking safety mostly from armed conflict and violence. Unlike refugees, IDPs have not crossed an international border, but have remained inside their home countries, even though they do share many of the same circumstances and challenges as refugees. At the same time, internally displaced persons do not have a special status in international law, specific rights to their situation, as refugees do, because the term “internally displaced person” is merely descriptive, provided in non-binding instrument. Even if they have fled for similar reasons as refugees, such as armed conflict, generalized violence, human rights violations or natural or human made disasters, IDPs legally remain and should be under the protection of their own state – even though that government might be the cause of their flight. As citizens, they retain all of their rights and protection under both human rights and international humanitarian law.
