A Daily Fight for Survival 

 

A Sudanese boy in the Lologo transit camp for IDPs in south Sudan. [Photo: Manoocher Degati/IRIN]

Whilst displacement can happen in a moment, its impact often lasts a lifetime – years after disasters have struck, millions remain in poverty, facing discrimination, and continuing to suffer the physical and psychological impact of their experiences. In some cases, the misery of continuing displacement is handed down to the next generation, as many of those displaced by Hurricane Mitch, more than a decade ago, understand only too well. 

Millions of IDPs reside in camps or collective centres – schools, old public buildings or other locations. Whilst, in such circumstances, IDPs often receive some degree of safety and support from governments or humanitarian organizations, lengthy stays in such situations can be demoralizing, dispiriting and often expose the most vulnerable to a range of abuses. Sexual violence, recruitment of children into armed groups/militias, extortion, petty crime and other abuses affect IDPs in Darfur, DRC, Uganda and other IDP concentrations around the world.

But IDPs don’t only live in camps. Many are taken in by local communities or host families who share their own meager resources, living together in over-crowded conditions.  Millions are also located in urban slums, mixed with broader urban poor, and therefore invisible to humanitarian actors seeking to assist them. 

Torn from their homes, with few if any possessions, often separated from family and friends, IDPs, whether in camps, host families or living in urban areas, are commonly particularly vulnerable to a range of abuses.  Discrimination, sexual violence, recruitment of children into armed groups/militias, extortion, petty crime and other abuses affect IDPs in Darfur, DRC, Uganda and other IDP populations around the world.

 

Next: Facts and Figures about Displacement