According to the UNDP report “Turning the tide on internal displacement: A development approach to solutions”, for the first time ever, more than 100 million people were forcibly displaced in 2022, most of them within their own countries
What is forced displacement?
Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region.
Impact of forced displacement:
- These internally displaced persons struggle to cover their basic needs, find decent work or have a stable source of income
- 48 per cent of the internally displaced households surveyed earned less money than before displacement.
- Female and youth-headed households were more impacted
Other Economic impacts:
- The direct impact of internal displacement globally was estimated at over $21.5 billion in 2021 in the form of the financial cost of providing every internally displaced person with housing, education, health and security, and accounts
Lack of Proper and Commonly Accepted Statistics about displacement has led to a lack of policies for displaced people.
The term “climate refugee” does not exist in international law, and therefore international efforts/policies towards it have been lacking.
What does the report say?
- Russia - Ukraine war: 6.5 million people are estimated to have been internally displaced
- By 2050, climate change could force more than an estimated 216 million people to move within their own countries.
- Disaster-related internal displacement is even more widespread, with new displacements recorded in over 130 countries and territories in 2021
- Most affected regions: sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa and parts of the Americas
Key pathways suggested:
- Strengthening governance institutions
- Boosting socioeconomic integration through access to jobs and services
- Restoring security
- Enhancing participation e.g., equal access to rights and basic services
- Building social cohesion
- Humanitarian aid
UNDP called for countries to take political, social and economic measures to ensure that IDPs can exercise their full rights as citizens, including in political processes. This renewed social contract should ensure the safety of IDPs as well as their access to healthcare, education, decent jobs and social protection.
SOURCE: Insights of India
