GC: n
S: UNHCR – https://bit.ly/2f0EJlZ (last access: 11 February 2017); The Guardian – https://bit.ly/2RBzMa6 (last access: 11 February 2017).
N: 1. – internally (adv): From internal (early 15c., “extending toward the interior,” from Medieval Latin internalis, from Latin internus “within, inward, internal,” figuratively “domestic,” expanded from pre-Latin *interos, *interus “on the inside, inward”; Related: Internally).
– displaced (adj): Past participle, from displace (v.): 1550s, from Middle French desplacer (15c.), from des- (see dis-) + placer “to place.” Related: Displaced; displacing. Displaced person “refugee” is from 1944.
people (npl): Late 13c., “humans, persons in general,” from Anglo-French people, Old French peupel “people, population, crowd; mankind, humanity,” from Latin populus “a people, nation; body of citizens; a multitude, crowd, throng,” of unknown origin, possibly from Etruscan.
2. Internally displaced persons, or IDPs, are among the world’s most vulnerable people. Unlike refugees, IDPs have not crossed an international border to find sanctuary but have remained inside their home countries.
3. Each year, hundreds of thousands of people are forced from the safety of their homes and compelled to take flight. At short notice, they gather what they can of their belongings and depart for uncertain destinations. Some take shelter with family or friends, while others congregate in camps for security’s sake. Many head for the forests or mountaintops, or other inhospitable terrain, and seek no assistance whatsoever. An untold number die from violence or disease before reaching sanctuary.
4. Internally displaced person or displaced person? The term “displaced person” may either be a short form for “internally displaced person” or it may be a broader concept that encompasses both externally and internally displaced persons.
5. A refugee is a person who has fled their country of origin in order to escape persecution, other violations of human rights, or the effects of conflict. In international law, the fact of having crossed or not crossed an international frontier is critical, and treaties such as the 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees define a refugee as a person who not only has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, but is also outside their country of nationality (or former habitual residence if stateless), and without the protection of any other State.
By contrast, an internally displaced person is someone who has moved within the bounds of his or her own country, either for the same sorts of ‘refugee-type’ reasons, or because of natural or ‘man-made’ events, for example, earthquake, famine, drought, conflicts, disorder, or development projects, such as high-dam building. Increasingly also, displacement resulting from climate-change, remote as it may be, is attracting attention in all its dimensions, including that of international law.
S: 1. OED – http://goo.gl/usqUMq; http://goo.gl/7t0NKf; http://goo.gl/IffGo6 (last access: 11 February 2017). 2. UNHCR – http://goo.gl/fOy9H (last access: 31 October 2013). 3. CultSurv – https://bit.ly/2FhRXLZ (last access: 11 February 2017). 4. TERMIUM PLUS – http://goo.gl/0bEcIp (last access: 27 April 2017). 5. EncPrince – https://bit.ly/2H1HqGI (last access: 26 April 2017).
SYN: internally displaced persons
S: OHCHR – https://bit.ly/2M1atZB (last access: 11 February 2017); ICRC – https://bit.ly/2si7Jhl (last access: 11 February 2017).
CR: asylee, asylum seeker, displaced person, emigrant, exiled, international protection, migrant, refugee, stateless person.
