Who are ‘internally displaced persons’ and what is ‘internal displacement’? According to the 1998 Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement: “Internally displaced persons are persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized State border.”
This descriptive definition does not confer a legal status, as the rights and guarantees to which IDPs are entitled come from the fact that they are citizens or residents of their country – although some IDPs are in fact stateless and may have difficulty accessing basic rights. However, having a term to describe this population is important as IDPs generally have specific vulnerabilities and needs stemming from the fact that they are displaced.
The causes listed in the definition are meant to provide examples rather than an exhaustive list. ‘Natural or human-made disasters’ includes slow- and sudden-onset disasters and the adverse impacts of climate change, as well as technological disasters and development projects that fail to take account of human rights obligations.
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