Last year was a significant year for IDMC. We celebrated our 20th birthday and 20 years since the adoption of the UN’s Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.

The double anniversary provided an opportunity to reflect on the global situation. Protracted and cyclical conflict in places such as Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo; a rise in intercommunal violence in Ethiopia; hampered returns in Iraq and elsewhere; climate change making disasters more frequent and severe; and the rising risks associated with increased urbanisation all contributed to driving huge levels of displacement in 2018.

We estimate that 41.3 million people were living in internal displacement as a result of conflict and violence as of the end of 2018, nearly two-thirds more than the global number of refugees and the highest figure ever recorded. It is still a significant underestimate though, because the figure does not include people displaced by disasters. As in previous years, disasters were responsible for the majority of new displacements recorded between January and December. Tropical storms uprooted millions of people in highly exposed countries such as China, India and the Philippines.

The anniversary year was also an opportunity to take stock of progress. There have been some advances in terms of policy over the last 20 years, especially in Africa. The Great Lakes pact and the Kampala Convention, endorsed in 2006 and 2009 respectively, provided legal frameworks for regional security, including for internally displaced people. Elsewhere, disaster risk reduction was officially recognised as an issue requiring state-led but also global action with the adoption of the Sendai Framework in 2015. Several countries, such as the Philippines, have led the way in explicitly including displacement in their DRR planning. The Nansen Initiative, another state-led process, resulted in the endorsement by 109 governments of the Protection Agenda for people displaced across borders by disasters and climate change.

Today, internal displacement is recognised as an issue of global concern. There is also more global reporting on the scale of the phenomenon and the needs of those affected. Not enough has been done, however, to reduce their number. Collective international action has been lacking, and internal displacement was all but excluded from the two UN global compacts on refugees and migration approved at the end of 2018. More involvement and engagement with national governments of affected countries in debates and decision-making processes is also urgently needed.

Based on this understanding, we stepped up our policy and political engagement in 2018 with a range of governments, UN agencies, civil society organisations and multilateral policy processes. IDMC held its first interdisciplinary conference, bringing together policy makers, humanitarian and development practitioners and researchers to explore ways of integrating internal displacement into national development and economic planning.

Increasing the scope of our global monitoring and reporting, we introduced new tools, including a state-of-the-art monitoring platform. IDMC now accesses a multitude of different sources that allow us to report more accurately on the global scale, severity and diversity of internal displacement. We also met the request voiced by many of our donors by convening a series of displacement data workshops to identify ongoing data gaps and build a roadmap for improved coverage.

In partnership with leading academic institutions and organisations, we expanded our research agenda into two new areas, urban displacement and that associated with slow-onset disasters and climate change. The 9th World Urban Forum held in Kuala Lumpur offered IDMC the ideal opportunity to launch our urban displacement research programme in the company of government ministers, city majors and municipal authorities. Our work was also featured and widely recognised at key global gatherings such as the Paris Peace Forum.

We are proud of how far we have come since our establishment two decades ago, and we take this opportunity to thank all our partners for their generous and loyal support over the years. We look forward to extending our collaboration into 2019 and beyond.

Alexandra Bilak
Director of IDMC

Intermittent armed conflict and violence have mainly taken place on three fronts in Yemen in recent years. The Shia al-Houthi movement has led a violent insurgency in the north, there has been civil unrest in central and southern regions, and government forces have clashed in the south with militants associated with the Southern Separatist Movement and Ansar al-Sharia, an offshoot of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The fighting has caused ongoing and often repeated internal displacement, which has taken place in the context of a growing socio-economic and humanitarian crisis. Political instability has left the government struggling to provide basic services, contributing to increased needs among vulnerable groups.

Fighting between government forces and followers of the late Sheikh Badr Eddin al-Houth have led to displacement in northern Yemen at regular intervals since 2004, peaking during the latest round of conflict in June and July 2008. Though many returned to their places of origin following the end of hostilities in July 2008, large numbers were unable to return home.

An estimated 100,000 people remain internally displaced as result of the Sa’ada conflict, including some who have gone back to places of origin. In June and July 2009 the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) increased by several thousand as intermittent fighting continued.

Though access to affected areas has improved since the conflict, it has remained limited. Attacks on humanitarian personnel have included kidnapping and recently killings

Following intermittent clashes between Al-Houthi groups and the Yemeni government in July 2009, the situation in Sa’ada governorate escalated into open conflict in the sixth round of hostilities since 2004. Tens of thousands of people were displaced from Sa’ada and Amran governorates, adding to those displaced by previous rounds of fighting. For many, it was their second or third displacement over the last few years.

In February 2010 a ceasefire put an end to hostilities; however intermittent violence has continued in affected governorates. As of July, approximately 342,000 were registered as internally displaced people (IDPs), and more than 800,000 people had been indirectly affected by the conflict, including communities hosting IDPs and residents who had lost access to basic services. The governorates of Sa’ada, Amran, Hajjah and Al Jawf were particularly affected. Only about 15 per cent of IDPs were gathered in camps or identified informal settlements.

IDPs’ returns have remained limited due to a wide range of protection and humanitarian concerns in their places of origin, as well as doubts over the durability of the ceasefire.

In the meantime, limited and inconsistent access continues to place obstacles on humanitarian activities, particularly those in favour of IDPs living in host communities and most IDPs in Sa’ada. The international community’s limited response to appeals for funds is also having a severe impact on the provision of assistance to IDPs.

In the wave of civil protests which have swept across the Middle East and North Africa, political instability and increasing violence involving the Yemeni government, protestors, rival tribal militias and militants have led to new waves of displacement in southern, central and northern areas of the country.

In northern Yemen, conflict between the government and the Al-Houthi movement has affected more than 800,000 people since 2004, and caused repeated large-scale displacement. In early 2011, more than a year after a February 2010 ceasefire, more than 250,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) remained in protracted displacement. Close to 93,000 people had reportedly returned to their place of origin, but their situation was unclear.

The instability and violence of 2011 has led to the new internal displacement of more than 100,000 people, particularly in the southern governorate of Abeyan but also in other governorates including the capital Sana’a. It has heightened the humanitarian needs of vulnerable populations throughout Yemen, including those displaced or otherwise affected by the conflict in the north.

In recent years, Yemen has simultaneously faced intermittent internal armed conflict in the northern governorate of Sa’ada, civil unrest and popular uprisings across the country, a resurgent separatist movement in the south and increasingly active Islamic militants in the south and elsewhere. This in the context of an already volatile and impoverished country with considerable development challenges and pre-existing humanitarian needs. The resulting political instability has further limited the government's capacity to provide basic services, contributing to increased humanitarian needs among vulnerable groups. Fighting between various factions - government, opposition, tribes and militants - has made these conditions worse among populations already chronically impoverished and resulted in continuing internal displacement in the northern, central and southern regions of the country.