Displacement, Security And Protection As Problems Of Internally Displaced Persons (Id Ps)

TOPIC: Displacement, Security and Protection as Problems of Internally Displaced Person (IDPs). Presented by JAMES HARDING M.Sc. In Humanitarian & Refugee Studies – University of Ibadan, Nigeria 2005/2006

Introduction
There are about 25m. IDPs world-wide, Africa contributes about 12m. To this global fig.
There is no international institution specifically mandated to address the issue of IDPs.
When people are involuntarily uprooted from their homes/displaced, they face a lot of problems spanning from; Displacement, Security, Protection, Sexual violence, detention etc.
This presentation will focus on discussing displacement, security and Protection as some of the key problems that IDPs encounter when they are displaced.
Two contrastive case studies of countries that have generated and managed IDPs will be discussed and best practices will be outlined.

Aim of presentation
To present a definition and a global overview of Internally Displaced Persons.
To explain Displacement, Security and Protection as problems faced by Internally Displaced Persons.
To present two contrastive case studies of countries that have generated and managed IDPs
Objectives of Presentation
To explain Displacement, Security and Protection as problems of IDPs

Definition and a global overview of IDPs
A key attendant consequence of; natural and human-made disasters, armed conflict, human rights violation, is the issue of displacement.
The world has witnessed an era when people fleeing conflicts, disasters etc. do not cross international frontiers.
Most of the people fleeing these catastrophes seek refuge within the boundaries of their countries. Such persons are referred to as Internally Displaced Persons. (IDPs).
In the absence of an Internationally accepted definition of IDPs, we shall use as a working definition the UN definition which states thus; “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 conflicts, 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 definition is not a legal definition but rather just a descriptive one.

There are 25m. IDPs in the world, when disaggregated Europe – 5m, Asia-5m, Latin America-2m and Africa-12m.
The magnitude of displacement in Africa remains enormous with the following countries being the worst affected; Sudan, DR Congo, Uganda etc.
Displacement, Security & Protection identified as problems of IDPS
A tragic and long-lasting consequence of conflicts which affect Africa, Asia, Europe and some parts of Latin America is Coercive displacement of people
Amongst the galaxy of problems faced by IDPs are the following; Displacement , Security and Protection
We shall now discuss each of these problems in detail.

DISPLACEMENT
Displacement basically refers to the coercive & involuntary movement of persons from their homes/places of residence.
Displacement often causes persons to be separated from; Their community support networks, families, sources of security and survival.
Most times when people are displaced, they congregate in camps, public buildings or in slums in urban areas.
When people are displaced they encounter a lot of problems throughout the various phases of displacement ( Early emergency phase, Care and maintenance phase, Transitional reintegration phase & Long term development phase). The problems includes the following;
Legal Status
National Sovereignty
Difficult Humanitarian access
Prolonged vulnerability to danger
Difficult reintegration and Resettlement
Long term development reversed.

Taking cognizance of the problems of displacement , the UN Guiding Principles makes the following provisions in Section II, Principles; 5,6,7,8, & 9 which states thus;
Authorities & Intl. actors to prevent all circumstances that might lead to displacement.
Every persons shall be protected against arbitrary displacement from his home or residence even when based on ethnic or religious policies or development projects.
In situations that require ultimate displacement, authorities shall take the necessary steps to minimize the adverse effects of displacement.
If displacement is to occur rather than in emergencies, those to be displaced are to be duly informed .
Displacement shall not be carried out in a manner that violates the human rights of those to be displaced.

SECURITY & PROTECTION
Within the context of this presentation, Security will be jointly discussed with Protection .
Security of IDPs entails; safeguarding , taking safety measures , defense , to ensure the safety of displaced persons from physical attack. (Physical security & Material Security)
Protection of IDPs encompasses; all activities aimed at obtaining full respect for the Human rights of IDPs. (Legal safety, personal safety and freedom from fear and persecution)
IDPs are covered by the laws of their own country, the state is responsible for protecting and assisting them under Human rights laws, in situation of armed conflicts they are protected under the IHL.

Taking into consideration the numerous Security and Protection problems faced by IDPs the UN Guiding Principles stipulates in Section III, principles; 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, & 23
All IDPs have inherent right to life and shall be protected against; murder, Genocide, Summary execution, enforced disappearance etc.
Shall be protected from indiscriminate attacks , starvation or being used as human shield.
Have right to dignity, Physical and moral integrity . Protected against rape, mutilation, torture, forced prostitution etc.
Not be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention o taken hostage.
Displaced children not to be recruited in the armed forces.
IDPs have liberty to move freely in and out of their camps or settlements.
IDPs have the liberty to seek refuge in any part of the country and to also leave and seek asylum in another country.
IDPs have the right to know the fate or whereabouts of their missing ones .

Authorities concerned shall collect and identify the mortal remains of those deceased, and facilitate the return of corpses to next of kin who will dispose of them respectfully.
Grave sites of IDPs should be respected. And access given to IDPs to visit the grave sites of their deceased relatives.
Respect should be given to family, separated families are to be reunited as soon as possible.
IDPs have right to adequate standard of living, at the minimum IDPs are to be provided with and have access to ; Food and portable water, Shelter and housing, clothing medical services and Sanitation.
Wounded and sick IDPs shall have access to medical care.
IDPs have right to be issued with the necessary documentation such as Birth certificates, Passports, Marriage certificates etc.
Property of IDPs shall be protected against illigal possession and pillage.

Case studies of countries that have generated and managed IDPs
Background of displacement in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980 and has since then been governed by the Mugabe led ZANU-PF party.
The government was faced with the problem of addressing the problem of Land Ownership . (15.5 Million hecters of land was owned by White commercial farmers.)
The government embarked on a rigorous land reform Programme aimed at redistribution of arable land.
The land reform Programme was politicized, the government tagged land owners as supporters of the opposition MDC party, so most of the land was listed for compulsory acquisition .
By 2003, thousands of Commercial farmers and their workers were brutally coerced to leave their lands and seek refuge in makeshift camps or travel to urban areas. About 150,000 people were evicted.
Zimbabwe

Background to displacement in Zimbabwe continued….
Zimbabwe saw an increase in the population of the Urban areas. Dwellers were forced to build makeshift shelters in Urban areas.
The government initiated Operation Murambatsvina , a campaign of forcible eviction and demolition of shelters.
This operation exersibated the humanitarian situation and the UN estimated that some 700,000 people were displaced , and that the operation was carried out in an indiscriminate and unjustified manner.
Management of the displacement, Security and Protection of the IDPs in Zimbabwe .
Below are examples of the Security, Protection and Displacement related problems that plagued the IDPs in Zimbabwe;
White commercial farmers and their workers, brutally evicted from their farms / habitual places of residence (150,000 people affected)

Management of displacement, security and Protection problems of IDPs in Zimbabwe continued……
The eviction of the commercial farmers was conducted in a brutal and dehumanizing manner , most of the victims were arrested and detained. These human rights violations were state sponsored.
Most of the farmers were not informed in advance of their eviction.
Operations Murambatsvina ushered in the destruction of shelter and the pillage of properties of IDPs who were doubly displaced but this time around from Urban areas.
During Murambatsvina, about 20,000 vendors were arrested and detained.
The government deliberately blocked the delivery of humanitarian assistance to IDPs. Aid agencies were prevented from providing tents for those who required shelter assistance.
Aid agencies were blocked from feeding vulnerables at a transit camp for IDPs

In June 2005, the government launched Operations Garikai (meaning reconstruction and resettlement.) to address the displacement problem in the country.
The number of housing units constructed under this scheme was far below the number needed to match the number of IDPs displaced.
The precondition attached to the Garikai housing scheme rendered most IDPs ineligible to benefit from the scheme.
Lessons learnt from the Zimbabwe case.
Zimbabwe is illustrative of an instance were the problems facing IDPs (Displacement Security and Protection) were evident but poorly managed by the state.
The displacement was induced by the state but it failed to provide the IDPs the requisite protection as stipulated in the guiding principles.
The state failed to take the necessary steps that would have precluded the displacement.

Sierra Leone
Background to displacement in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone is a country in West Africa, It is bounded in the north by Guinea and the South by Liberia.
The country went through a rebel war that started in 1991.
The RUF ignited in Sierra Leone one of the nastiest wars the world has witnessed in the last five decades.
The conflict caused amongst other things the displacement of well over 1 million people . These IDPs inhabited camps in Freetown, Bo, Kenema, Segbwema, Daru and Port Loko.
Management of the Displacement, Security and Protection problems of IDPs in Sierra Leone.
The IDPs in Sierra Leone suffered the following Displacement, Security and Protection related problems;
IDPs were displaced from their homes and they sought refuge in displaced camps in Urban and safe areas.
Due to the government’s incapacity to stop the advancement of the rebels, some of the displaced camps were attacked and some IDPs were abducted and others killed.

The government requested both the UN Agencies, and NGOs to assist in the provision of Protection to the thousands of IDPs.
IDPs that were camp based received assistance (Basic Food, Water, Shelter, Health care) from various NGOs and UN Agencies according to International minimum standards and the UN Guiding Principles.
The ICRC was key in tracing and family reunification
UNOCHA was in charge of the registration of all IDPs that reported at designated IDP camps.
WFP was the lead food pipeline agency.
MSF was instrumental in WATSAN and Health care.
A gamut of local NGOs also provided varied assistance to the IDPs in camps and in Host communities.
The government ensured that all the IDP camps were secured by Police officers.
After the declaration of the end of the war, the government established the NCRRR which championed the resettlement exercise.
The NCRRR coordinated the repatriation and resettlement of IDPs in areas that were declared safe for return.

A substantial number of IDPs repatriated spontaneously without waiting for assistance or resettlement package from the government or NGOs once their areas were declared safe.
The bulk of the IDPs were repatriated within the framework of the government’s resettlement strategy .
Before 2003, all the IDP camps were closed country-wide, and those IDPs who opted to stay in the capital and other urban areas were provided with land for the construction of their own residences.
Lessons learnt from the Sierra Leone Case.
Though the govt. lacked the capacity to prevent the displacement of its citizens, It ensured that the IDPs were provided with the required protection once they register at any designated displaed camp or host community.
The UN Agencies and NGOs were very instrumental in ensuring that the IDPs were provided with protection in line with international minimum standards and the UN guiding Principles.
The govt. in league with the UN Agencies and NGOs ensured that the IDPs were repatriated in safety and dignity in their places of origin or choice.

Conclusion
We have discussed the reality that the magnitude of internal displacement in Africa remains enormous and scaring.
The causes of internal displacement in Africa range from Natural and Human-made disasters, armed conflicts and repressive governance.
Generally displaced persons face a lot of problems once they are coercively uprooted from their homes.
We exhaustively discussed the problems of Displacement, Security and Protection as key problems that IDPs encounter.
We discovered from the two contrastive case studies that Zimbabwe represented a case were the IDP problems were poorly managed and Sierra Leone represented a case of Best practice in the management of IDP problems.
I wish to conclude that since the responsibility of providing protection to IDPs rests on the affected states, All governments are to ensure that they use the UN guiding principles as the framework for the provision of protection to IDPs.

Thanks for your attention James Harding is my Name

Displacement, Security And Protection As Problems Of Internally Displaced Persons (Id Ps)

by James Harding

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Displacement, Security And Protection As Problems Of Internally Displaced Persons (Id Ps) Presentation Transcript