Merisphere Documentary Fund
Forced displacement
Forced displacement occurs when people are compelled to leave their homes because of war, persecution, violence, human rights violations, disasters or other threats that make remaining where they live impossible or dangerous.
Not all displaced people have the same legal status. A distinction must be made in particular between refugees and internally displaced people.
Refugees and internally displaced people
A refugee has crossed an international border and meets the conditions for protection under international or regional refugee law.
An internally displaced person has also been forced to leave home but remains within the borders of his or her own country.
The distinction has legal consequences. Refugees are protected by a specific international legal framework. Internally displaced people remain under the jurisdiction of their own state, even when its capacity to protect or assist them is limited.
Both groups may nevertheless have similar immediate needs: shelter, food, water, healthcare, security and access to education.
Displacement does not always end with the conflict
Leaving home may take a few hours. Returning may take years.
Homes may have been destroyed, land occupied, livelihoods lost and public services disrupted. Security may remain uncertain even after fighting has diminished.
Some displaced people therefore spend many years away from their place of origin. Children may be born and grow up in displacement.
Durable solutions
International organisations generally distinguish three main durable solutions for refugees: voluntary return to the country of origin, local integration in the country of asylum and resettlement in another country.
For internally displaced people, possibilities include voluntary and sustainable return, local integration where they found refuge, or settlement elsewhere in their own country.
None of these solutions consists simply of moving people from one place to another. A durable solution requires conditions in which people can live safely and rebuild their lives.
Counting displaced people
Forced-displacement figures should be read with care.
They may include refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced people and other populations requiring international protection. Categories may vary according to the institution and purpose of the statistics.
A fall in the global total does not necessarily mean that all major displacement crises are improving. Returns in one country may occur at the same time as new displacement in another.
The figures therefore measure populations and movements. They do not, by themselves, measure the severity of each individual situation.