Displaying items by tag: Internally Displaced Persons

Intense storms and violence forced 40.5 million people to become displaced within their countries last year, despite strict restrictions on movement globally to halt Covid spreading. Conflicts and natural disasters forced one person every second to flee within their own country in 2020, pushing up the number of people living in internal displacement camps. The number of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) was more than double the 26 million people who fled across borders as refugees. Three-quarters of the people who fled were victims of extreme weather. Intense cyclones, monsoon rains and floods hit highly-exposed and densely-populated areas in Asia and the Pacific, while the Atlantic hurricane season ‘was the most active on record’. Extended rainy seasons across the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa uprooted millions more. Experts say climate change is increasing the intensity and frequency of such extreme weather events. Norwegian Refugee Council chief Jan Egeland described the report’s findings as ‘shocking’.

There are 9.5 million more internally displaced persons (IDPs) than last year. The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) works alongside refugees who have historically fallen through the cracks of support and been ignored by their own governments. The new coronavirus challenges could result in the needs of IDPs receding further into the background, according to the JRS in Iraq. In Afghanistan there are 55,000 IDPs in over fifty informal settlements in Kabul, now fearing evacuation and the loss of daily wage jobs and whatever assets they have secured prior to the pandemic. JRS accompanies, serves, and defends IDPs in fourteen countries through education, psycho-social support, peacebuilding, pastoral activities, training in modern agricultural techniques, plus mediation to settle land disputes and other conflicts. This is part of a three-year campaign to draw attention to the current limits and challenges and call for long term solutions. See