Forced Migrants: Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons

Author(s):  
Michael J. Toole

This chapter addresses the social injustice experienced by refugees and internally displaced persons. There are approximately 25.4 million refugees and approximately 40.0 million internally displaced persons globally, in addition to 3.1 million asylum seekers. This chapter describes morbidity and mortality in these populations and the increased risk factors that refugees and internally displaced persons face. It provides many specific examples of the effects of social injustice in these populations. The chapter describes international responses to the needs of these populations. It includes a discussion of what needs to be done. The author concludes that the plight of refugees and internally displaced persons can be addressed only if the international community is serious about addressing the root causes of poverty, poor governments, exploitation, and inequities between rich and poor countries.

Author(s):  
Zahra Babar

Between the two poles of moving purely out of choice or moving because one has no other option but to leave, there are a variety of circumstances and nuanced motivations that lie somewhere in the middle. No matter what the personal or circumstantial drivers and reasons that propel it, migration on an annual basis occurs for millions of people. The term “migration” is itself used to describe varied and complex patterns of human mobility that occur internally within a state or region, as well as those taking place across borders, internationally, and trans-continentally. Migration can be applied to the categories of people moving as a result of their own agency, voluntarily, and as an individual or familial choice. It can also be used to describe the categories of those having to move by force or under duress, and this includes the mobility experiences of forced migrants, internally displaced persons, refugees, and asylum-seekers.


Refuge ◽  
1969 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeff Crisp

 This article examines the way in which UNHCR has expanded its range of policy interests and operational activities since its establishment in 1951, focusing on the extension of the organization’s mission from refugees to groups such as asylum seekers, returnees, stateless popula­tions, internally displaced persons, and victims of natural disasters.The article identifies the different factors that have contributed to this expansionist process, examines its implications for UNHCR’s core mandate, and asks whether the process is an irreversible one.


Author(s):  
Bradley Megan

This chapter explores restitution and other remedies for refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). Most refugees and IDPs never receive any formal redress for the wrongs they have suffered. Yet over the past 30 years, significant progress has been made in advancing international norms on remedies for refugees and IDPs, and experiences in countries from Bosnia and Kosovo to Rwanda and Iraq have strengthened understanding of the challenges involved in translating these principles into practice. Efforts have focused predominantly on the restitution of housing, land, and property (HLP), with the assumption that this is the most pertinent remedy for forced migrants, particularly because it may help enable return as the ‘preferred’ solution to displacement. The chapter assesses these developments and the state of research on this pivotal challenge. It reviews the approaches taken in major peace treaties, court decisions, and standards. The chapter then reflects on five intertwined challenges: (i) developing appropriate data collection techniques and evidentiary standards; (ii) balancing the rights of ‘secondary occupants’ and people in protracted displacement; (iii) mitigating risks associated with HLP restitution; (iv) developing a better understanding of how gender, race, class, and other intersecting power relations influence redress; and (v) moving beyond a narrow focus on property restitution to consider the wider range of losses associated with displacement.


Author(s):  
Stephen Damilola Odebiyi ◽  
Olugbenga Elegbe

This chapter investigates media reportage of human right abuses and sexual violence against internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Nigeria. Using the social responsibility theory, it analyses how the media frames, prominence, slant and whether the Nigeria media employed investigative reports in its reportage of human rights abuses against IDPs. The chapter through a quantitative content analysis of 157 editions of two purposely selected newspapers (the Vanguard NG and the Daily Trust), found that the media failed to contextualise the stories in relation to its causes, solutions and in identifying perpetrators for justice to be served, similarly, the media took sides with victims of the violations. It also failed to accord the required prominence and necessary investigative touch to such stories. It is recommended that there should be frequent trainings for journalists so as to safeguard professionalism in the industry.


HUMANITARIUM ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-143
Author(s):  
Oleksandra Fedorenko

This article is devoted to the case study of the social and psychological adaptation and integration of internally displaced persons in the host community. Theoretical analysis of modern local and foreign studies has been performed. A theoretical analysis of contemporary domestic and foreign researches was effectuated, during which the specialities of the socio-psychological mechanisms of adaptation and integration of internally displaced were identified. It was clarified that the process of adaptation involves acceptance and adaptation to social norms, and as a result of integration, the emergence of new formations that meet the needs of individual and group development takes place. Also, there were an attempt to define the existence of distinctions of the migrants, refugees, internally displaced persons and their special aspects of adaptation. The complexity of the social and psychological adaptation of internally displaced persons lies in the fact that the result of the process should be the conformity to socially regulated behavior, interests, and values orientations of community without losing its own individuality. Research findings point to the significant potential of internally displaced persons, which can contribute to improving the adaptive capacity of the entire community, to manifest itself in the cultural, social and working life of the host party.The material presented in the article emphasizes the importance of a more careful study of the mechanisms of adaptation and integration.


Author(s):  
Vira Nikitina

The article deals with basing of the necessity of social work with internally displaced persons (IDPs) in modern Ukraine, as not all of the problems of these people that have arisen as a result of forced resettlement have been resolved. The problem is in difference of the life trajectories of IDPs: some of migrants are in higher levels of income in the social hierarchy than residents of host communities, while others still live in collective housing in need of humanitarian assistance. Social differentiation within IDPs raises debates about the need to maintain common approaches to their social protection and social work with them. The purpose of this article is to prove the presence of signs of vulnerability in internally displaced persons, which necessitates the provision of social support by specialists working in the field of social work. To achieve this goal, the method of theoretical generalization and the method of deduction were used. The results of the study are the identification of such features of the social position of IDPs in Ukraine and features of their socio-psychological state, which evidence the presence of indicators of vulnerability, and therefore are the reason of social work with them in different areas. The presence of dual vulnerabilities in IDPs (the status of an orphan or a child deprived of parental care, a child or a person with a disability, a member of a family with many children, etc.) increases the need for social support from social services professionals.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brigitte Rohwerder

Covid-19 and the response and mitigation efforts taken to contain the virus have triggered a global crisis impacting on all aspects of life. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic for forcibly displaced persons (refugees, internally displaced persons and asylum seekers) extends beyond its health impacts and includes serious socioeconomic and protection impacts. This rapid review focuses on the available evidence of the socioeconomic impacts of the crisis on forcibly displaced persons, with a focus where possible and relevant on examples from countries of interest to the Covid Collective programme: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ghana, Iraq, Kenya, Malawi, Pakistan, Rwanda, South Sudan, Syria, Uganda, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe.


Author(s):  
Bielefeldt Heiner, Prof ◽  
Ghanea Nazila, Dr ◽  
Wiener Michael, Dr

Though it is clear that refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced persons (IDPs) have an equal right to freedom of religion or belief, this right is often compromised in practice. This chapter examines a number of these challenges for freedom of religion or belief at various stages of the process by which persons become forcibly displaced, seek asylum and refugee status in another State, are able to or are denied the freedom to practise religion or belief in refugee camps, or face refoulement.


Author(s):  
Stephen Damilola Odebiyi ◽  
Olugbenga Elegbe

This chapter investigates media reportage of human right abuses and sexual violence against internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Nigeria. Using the social responsibility theory, it analyses how the media frames, prominence, slant and whether the Nigeria media employed investigative reports in its reportage of human rights abuses against IDPs. The chapter through a quantitative content analysis of 157 editions of two purposely selected newspapers (the Vanguard NG and the Daily Trust), found that the media failed to contextualise the stories in relation to its causes, solutions and in identifying perpetrators for justice to be served, similarly, the media took sides with victims of the violations. It also failed to accord the required prominence and necessary investigative touch to such stories. It is recommended that there should be frequent trainings for journalists so as to safeguard professionalism in the industry.


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