Associated Press, 6 December 2011
Mexico drug war refugees escape to more bloodshed
(...) The Echevarrias are among thousands of Mexicans who make up the internal diaspora trying to escape drug violence that seems to migrate rather than cease, with more than 45,000 troops fighting cartels and more than 40,000 dead by many counts.
Recent survey results by Parametria found that 1.6 million Mexicans have moved because of drug violence since 2006. One study by the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre put the number at 230,000 in 2010, estimating that half fled to the United States. (...)
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Vanguard, 5 December 2011
Internally displaced persons: Matters arising
THE occurrences of disasters often result in displacement of persons. Therefore, the global increases in the number and magnitude of disasters have directly led to increasing human displacements.
The Geneva- based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre estimates that between October 2010 and October 2011 about 42 million people were displaced worldwide and 27.5 million by conflict and violence. (...)
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AlertNet, 1 December 2011
"Forgotten" Indians displaced by northeast clashes need aid - report
NEW DELHI (AlertNet) - More than 800,000 people in northeast India who have been forced to flee ethnic violence over the last two decades lack even basic necessities, a report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre said.
Myriad violent insurgencies have beset India's remote northeast region for decades and at least 50,000 people have been killed there since independence in 1947. (...)
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Two Circles.net, 16 November 2011
8 lakh people in North-East displaced by ethnic violence in 20 yrs
Guwahati: Nearly one million people have been forced to flee their homes by ethnic violence in north-east India over the past 20 years, says a report prepared by the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). The report was made public on 28th Nov.
From the 1990s to the start of 2011, over 800,000 people were forced to flee their homes in episodes of inter-ethnic violence in western Assam, along the border between Assam and Meghalaya, and in Tripura. According to conservative estimates, more than 76,000 of them are still living in displacement in November 2011, but in the absence of proper monitoring it is not known how many of the rest have been able to rebuild their lives. These internally displaced people (IDPs) are not receiving the protection and assistance they need, says the report. (...)
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MSN News, 29 November 2011
Law to help displaced in India''s northeast urged
London, Nov 29 (PTI) A Geneva-based displacement monitoring group has called on the Indian government to enact legislation to help people displaced by ethnic conflicts in the north-east, who today reportedly number over 76,000.
From the 1990s to the start of 2011, over 800,000 people were reportedly forced to flee their homes in episodes of inter-ethnic violence in western Assam, along the border between Assam and Meghalaya and in Tripura, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said. (...)
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Business Day, 28 November 2011
FG advised to adopt policy on internally displaced persons
The Federal Government has been advised to adopt a comprehensive policy, legal and institutional frameworks for the management of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in Nigeria.
The Civil Societies Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) gave the advice in a communiqué it issued at the end of a two day multi stakeholders’ conference on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in collaboration with the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre /Norwegian Refugee Centre (IDMC/NRC), Geneva, Switzerland, held in Abuja.
The communiqué jointly signed by the Executive Director of CISLAC, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani and the Senior Legal and Training Officer of IDMC/NRC, Mancini Becks, called on the government to develop a coordinated and multi disciplinary strategy for addressing emergencies and the needs of IDPs, including through the collection of data on IDPs across the country, as well as provision of adequate funding for the protection and assistance of IDPs. (...)
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IPS News, 16 November 2011
Refugees of Climate Change Rising Steadily
NEW YORK, Nov 16, 2011 (IPS) - Asian countries, home to about 60 percent of the world's population, will be hit hardest by changing weather patterns and a degrading environment, research indicates.
A whopping 90 percent of all disaster displacement within countries in 2010 was caused by climate- related disasters, the international body Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) reported. That year, 38.3 million women, men and children were forced to move, mainly by floods and storms. (...)
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The Japan Times, 19 June 2011
Fleeing natural disasters
Last year, 42 million people worldwide were forced to flee their homes because of natural disasters, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center reported two weeks ago. The worst year on record, 2010 saw problems worldwide, with 15 million forced to leave their homes in China and 11 million in Pakistan because of flooding.
This year's disasters are already piling up, with cyclones, earthquakes and floods on every continent.
The number of people displaced in 2010 was more than double the 17 million displaced in 2009 by natural disasters such as the floods in China and Pakistan and earthquakes in Chile and Haiti. (...)
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Sun Star Davao, 13 June 2011
Editorial: Unacknowledged, unseen
Internally displaced persons (IDPs) are out there, clustered in long-forgotten camps or hamlets of cramp communities that do not have the support system to build a new life. But, because there has been no outbreak of armed conflict in areas where the IDPs abound -- like Maguindanao and Cotabato -- they are no longer seen as a problem, they are no longer worthy of attention.
Many have returned, but many more have resettled elsewhere, all of them barely able to recover simply because authorities do not even know who, where, and how they are.
This concern is raised in the June 10, 2011 analysis by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre focusing on the IDPs of Mindanao, entitled: "Durable solutions still out of sight for many IDPs and returnees in Mindanao - A profile of the internal displacement situation".
The paper acknowledged that the 2008-2009 conflict sparked a new wave of IDPs that has since waned, but remains an unacknowledged problem. (...)
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The Salt Lake Tribune, 7 June 2011
Opinion: More climate disasters
At a recent conference in Oslo, Norway, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center reported some rather disturbing information. In 2010, “about 43 million people were forced to flee their homes because of natural disasters around the world.” This number is up from the 17 million estimate for 2009.
The report goes on to say that “more than 90 percent of the disaster displacements were caused by weather-related hazards such as floods and storms that were probably impacted by global warming.” (...)
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Radio Nederland Wereldomroep, 7 June 2011
México: desplazamiento forzado, silencioso y no reconocido
El goteo de personas que tienen que huir de su hogar en México no cesa. La cifra ya supera los 200.000 desplazados por causa de la violencia.
En los estados fronterizos del norte de México, acosados por una violencia brutal producto de la guerra contra el narcotráfico y la rivalidad entre bandas criminales, sus autoridades enfrentan ahora el problema del desplazamiento masivo de comunidades. El último caso ocurrió hace algunos días cuando cerca de 1.500 habitantes de la localidad de Buena Vista –Tocatlián y quienes se vieron en medio de fuertes enfrentamientos entre bandas de mafiosos, tuvieron que abandonar sus viviendas para poder salvar sus vidas. Se calcula que este tipo de desplazamiento de comunidades enteras, ha dejado en los estados más violentos del norte del país un saldo de más de 2.000 personas. Muchas de ellas ya han podido regresar a sus casas. (...)
Escuche la entrevista a Sebastián Albuja del Centro Noruego de Refugiados
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Care2, 7 June 2011
Record 42 Million Displaced Worldwide By Climate Change “Mega-Storms”
According to a report released yesterday by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) (a United Nations-guided monitoring and advocacy organization), a staggering 42 million people were displaced in 2010 by what the IDMC calls “mega-disasters” (violent storms, massive earthquakes, record flooding and other large-scale natural disasters). The IDMC expressed concern that this number of displaced individuals due to climate-related events has more than doubled since 2009′s 17 million sudden natural disaster dispacements. (...)
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Toronto Sun, 6 June 2011
Natural disasters displaced 42 million in 2010: Study
They know it in scorched Slave Lake, Alta. They know it along the swollen banks of the Richelieu River in Southern Quebec and along the battered expanse of Lake Manitoba.
Our homes are not always sanctuary from what arrives outside.
A new global report estimates 42 million people were displaced last year by natural disasters -- a remarkably angry period for our planet.
"We're not just throwing numbers at one another. These are people," says Kate Halff, head of the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre.
"That's what we never forget," she adds. (...)
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Voice of America, 6 June 2011
Sudden Natural Disasters Displaced 42 Million in 2010
More than 42 million people around the world were displaced by sudden natural disasters in 2010. That’s according to a new study from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center of the Norwegian Refugee Council.
The Geneva-based center has been monitoring conflict and internal displacement since 1998. In 2008, it joined the U.N. in trying to determine a global estimate of people displaced by sudden onset natural disasters.
“The study we just released today is a follow-up to that...looking at global estimates of people displaced…in the world in 2009 and 2010,” said Kate Halff, head of the center.
She added, “If we look at the findings, we found that in 2010 over 42 million people had been estimated displaced as a result of sudden onset disasters, of which 90 percent, or corresponding to 38 million, have been displaced by climate-related disasters.” (...)
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Reuters, 6 June 2011
World needs refugee re-think for climate victims: U.N.
More than 42 million people around the world were displaced by sudden natural disasters in 2010. That’s according to a new study from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center of the Norwegian Refugee Council.
The Geneva-based center has been monitoring conflict and internal displacement since 1998. In 2008, it joined the U.N. in trying to determine a global estimate of people displaced by sudden onset natural disasters.
“The study we just released today is a follow-up to that...looking at global estimates of people displaced…in the world in 2009 and 2010,” said Kate Halff, head of the center.
She added, “If we look at the findings, we found that in 2010 over 42 million people had been estimated displaced as a result of sudden onset disasters, of which 90 percent, or corresponding to 38 million, have been displaced by climate-related disasters.” (...)
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AlertNet, 1 June 2011
Hopes dashed, some south Sudanese long for the north
LONDON (AlertNet) - It's probably not the homecoming most south Sudanese were expecting.
For many of the thousands who had streamed to South Sudan ahead of the historic vote on independence in January, euphoria about being home has quickly dissolved into disappointment.
Little did they anticipate the lack of land to harvest crops or build their homes, the scarcity of jobs, being forced to rely on food handouts, poor schooling and even the inability to communicate with others, that was waiting for them back home.
"I've had numerous discussions in transit sites with IDPs (internally displaced people). What was very obvious was yes, people did want to come back. They said, 'we were hoping and waiting for the moment to come back'," said Nina Sluga, a Sudan analyst for the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). (...)
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lRIN, 26 May 2011
Analysis: IDPs as political pawns in Kenya
(...) Thousands of families such as Wanjiru's find themselves uncertain of ever resettling as political, policy and technical difficulties persist in the country's handling of IDPs.
The Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), an NGO, has a caseload of 50,000 IDPs, whose displacement predates the post-election violence of 2008, often by two decades.
Across the country, there are now between 200,000 and 250,000 conflict-related IDPs in Kenya, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), a project of the Norwegian Refugee Council. (...)
Nuur Mohamud Sheekh, IDMC’s Horn of Africa analyst, said Kenya had several categories of IDPs whose situation remained dire.
"We have those historically displaced during the colonial days from their land in Central and Rift Valley provinces; those displaced as a result of human rights violations like the case of Wagalla massacre and lately in Mount Elgon [western Kenya]; those displaced as a result of politically instigated violence in 1992 and 1997; the 2007-2008 post-election displaced; the Mau evictees; those displaced by natural disasters; those displaced as a result of violation of Kenya's territories and; finally, those who are regularly displaced as a result of conflict over water and pasture resources." (...)
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Radio Ndeke Luka, 18 May 2011
Central African Republic
Interview with IDMC
BBC, 4 May 2011
Focus on Africa - Central African Republic
Interview with IDMC
El País, 1 April 2011
La pérdida de la propiedad dificulta la paz
En el mundo hay 27,5 millones de desplazados dentro de sus propios países, un número que duplica el de refugiados, aquellos que cruzan la frontera a otro país. Son personas que se han visto forzadas a abandonar sus hogares, tierras o negocios a consecuencia de conflictos armados, violaciones de los derechos humanos o catástrofes naturales. "Un problema global que afecta en cada país de forma diferente y en el que los agentes locales, junto a la cooperación de organismos internacionales, son clave para resolver los conflictos que originan los desplazamientos, principalmente la pérdida de propiedad", explica Barbara McCallin, miembro del Consejo Noruego para los Refugiados. (...)
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Jesuit Refugee Service, 31 March 2011
Levels of refugees reach record levels
Rome, 31 March 2011 – The number of internally displaced persons rose to more than 27.5 million last year, according to a report by the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) last week.
The report – Internal Displacement: Global Overview of Trends and Developments in 2010 – found that close to three million people in 20 countries across the world were newly displaced from conflict and violence during 2010, and such large scale displacement continues.(...)
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Teleberri, 31 March 2011
Desplazados internos: Más desprotegidos aún que los refugiados
View the video in Spanish (36:19 - 37:27)
Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York, 27 March 2011
Mexican Drug War Displaces 230,000
Some 115,000 Mexicans fled their homes last year because of drug-related crime, according to a report released on Mar. 23 by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). The Geneva-based group, which was established by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in 1998 at the United Nations’ request, estimated that the total number of people displaced by drug violence in Mexico since 2007 has reached about 230,000. Some 35,000 people have died in fighting among drug gangs and between the gangs and the authorities in the four years since President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa militarized the fight against drug traffickers shortly after taking office in December 2006. (...)
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Al Jazeera, 26 March 2011
Mexico drug violence fuels exodus
About 230,000 people have been displaced in Mexico because of drug violence, and about half of them may have taken refuge in the United States, a new study has revealed.
The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre [IDMC] based its report, released this week, on studies by local researchers.
The Geneva-based organisation noted that the Mexican government does not compile its own figures on people who have had to leave their homes because of turf battles between drug gangs.
"Independent surveys put their number at around 230,000," the global report's section on Mexico said. (...)
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Otago Daily Times, 24 March 2011
27.5 million uprooted by violence
The number of people around the world uprooted by conflict or violence and displaced within their country has increased to 27.5 million, the highest figure in the last decade, according to a new report released on Wednesday.
The report by the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, established by the Norwegian Refugee Council in 1998 at the UN's request, said close to three million people in 20 countries were newly displaced by conflict or violence in 2010, including 1.2 million in Africa. (...)
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Reuters, 23 March 2011
Number of displaced people hits global high
OSLO (Reuters) - The number of internally displaced people worldwide reached 27.5 million in 2010, the highest number since the mid-1990s even though the situation in Africa improved, a refugee agency said on Wednesday.
While refugees who cross a country's external border gain rights under international law, internally displaced people (IDPs) who have been forced to move due to conflict or hunger have no such rights in many countries.
The number of IDPs in Africa fell by 4 percent to 11.1 million, while all other regions showed an increase, according to the annual report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre of the Norwegian Refugee Council.. (...)
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IRIN, 22 March 2011
UGANDA: IDPs hit by ARV shortages, poor HIV care in the north
PABBO/AMURU, 22 March 2011 (IRIN) - Internally displaced people in northern Uganda face a difficult choice - whether to return to their ancestral villages or stay in camps hoping for better access to healthcare, as antiretroviral (ARV) drugs are in short supply.
"Going back to the village to me means committing suicide because the village health centres do not provide us ARVs - they are constantly out of drugs," said Bosco Opiro of Pabbo, a former IDP camp in Amuru District.
(...)
According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre [ http://www.internal-displacement.org/countries/Uganda ], since the 2006 cessation of hostilities in northern Uganda between the rebel Lord's Resistance Army and government forces, more than 90 percent of the region's 1.8 million IDPs have returned to their areas of origin or have resettled in new locations. Only about 182,000 IDPs were still in camps or transit sites as of December 2010. (...)
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The Daily Star, 3 January 2011
Displaced returning home, but causes of past conflicts remain
Although displaced citizens have returned to their homes, the causes of past conflict in Lebanon remain "unresolved" and therefore the situation is precarious, according to a new international report released over the weekend.
There was no new internal displacement between 2009 and 2010, and the reprieve in hostilities is encouraging, the joint report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC) and Norwegian Refugee Council said.
According to interviews conducted by IDMC in November, all remaining internally displaced persons from the 2006 summer war with Israel have now returned to their homes. (...)
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