IDP Action urges support for individuals in situations of long-term displacement

By Frank Smith, Director of Policy and Communications

On International Human Rights Day, 10 December, IDP Action calls on the international community to ensure that individuals in situations of long-term displacement are able to enjoy their basic human rights. On this day, IDP Action remembers the millions of internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have left their homes because of war, violence or natural disasters and who languish in limbo, forgotten or ignored by their own government and the international community.

"The international community is too fickle in the attention it gives to human rights crises. Pledges of assistance are made, but support is rarely sustained once the immediate flashpoint that has captured world attention has passed. What is needed is a more consistent and coherent approach to guaranteeing the human rights of those caught up and displaced by conflict. Only by ensuring long-term, durable solutions to the crises that cause hundreds of thousands to be displaced across the world will we ensure that a human rights culture is able to take seed and flourish" said Frank Smith, Director of Policy and Communications for IDP Action.

Millions of people across Africa and other parts of the world remain in situations of long-term displacement, unable or unwilling to return home because of continuing violence or a lack of support to rebuild their lives. Many displaced people swell the ranks of the urban shanty towns eking out a living, often by engaging in risky occupations to feed their family from day to day while they await the possibility of a return to their homes. IDP Action has interviewed women and children in a former reception centre for returning refugees on the outskirts of Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). More than ten years after their return to the DRC from Sudan and the Central African Republic, over a thousand families were still living in barns and pigsties on the farm of former President Sese Seko Mobuto's Security Advisor Jean Seti Yale, waiting to be relocated. With no support from the government, many of the older girls were forced into prostitution in order to feed themselves and their families, increasing their risk of contracting HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

The situation is similar in Luanda, Angola. Six years after the civil war has ended, IDP Action saw people still living in tents given to them by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. Some of the displaced who had attempted to return to their villages and rebuild their lives were forced back to Luanda because they did not have enough food to sustain them through the first growing cycle. They were living in cramped conditions with no water or sanitation. Here again, girls were forced into prostitution to ensure a minimum income for their families.

In Kenya, around one-third of the estimated 300,000 people displaced by violence following elections in late 2007 remain in makeshift camps. Following the end of the violence, the Kenyan government launched Operation Rudi Nyumbani (Operation Return Home) to assist IDPs to return home through a resettlement package of 10,000 Kenyan shillings, equivalent to around 100 Euros. There have been allegations of corruption relating to the resettlement package, leading to resentment and discord. On 12 November over 50 women demonstrators were violently dispersed by police outside the Parliament Buildings in Nairobi where they had gathered to demand greater assistance for resettlement.

"The case of Kenya demonstrates clearly the need for a comprehensive approach to addressing the consequences of conflict and natural disaster. Those displaced need help to return to their homes and rebuild their lives. To foster peace and lay a foundation for human rights in countries torn apart by conflict, the national government and international community need to make a sustained commitment to assisting the resettlement and reintegration of IDPs" concluded Frank Smith.