The living hell of the displaced

Last year set a new record in terms of people internally displaced (IDP) by violence. In total 28.8 million people have had to leave their homes around the world fleeing from armed conflicts. Syria and Congo top the list.

The IDP’s situation is even worse than that of refugees. For starters, the number of IDPs doubles that of refugees. Unlike the refugees who leave their country of origin, the IDPs remain in it.

However, this causes many more problems for the internally displaced. For starters, their situation is more precarious.

If it is a civil war, such as in Syria, they are in danger of being caught by the same horror of fleeing and relive the hell of having to escape again. Or in a crossfire.

In addition, refugees enjoy international protection while the internally displaced people lack of it.

Of the nearly 29 million internally displaced people, one-fifth (6.5 million) are newly displaced in the last last. The rest were from before 2012.

Syria takes the brunt in terms of newly displaced. From a total of more than 3 million Syrians internally displaced, two and a half were new from 2012.

The data gives a new dimension to the words of Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for the Refugees, which has described the Syrian conflict as the greatest humanitarian catastrophe since the end of the Cold War.

In terms of total numbers, Colombia is the country with the highest number of internally displaced persons, most of them long term, followed by the aforementioned Syria and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Photo US Navy

In fact, the Sub-Saharan region, with over 10 million displaced, is the hardest hit area of ​​the world. Only in November 2012, more than 140,000 people left the Congolese city of Goma after the rebel group M23 attacked the city.

No wonder, therefore, that Africa is a pioneer trying to solve the problem of the displaced. In December last year, 37 of the 53 countries that make up the African Union signed the Kampala Convention. Some of them, however, still have to ratify it.

The document contains several basic rights of internally displaced persons and urges governments to work to return them to their homes or reunite families divided by conflicts among other things.

There is still much to be done, however, as evidenced by the drama of the IDPs and refugees from South Sudan. After surviving the horrors of war, when they tried to return home they have been found living in conditions even worse than those they had in the refugee camps.