In 2023, IDMC celebrates its 25th anniversary, so with this annual report for 2022, we look back not only at the productive past year, but also on the progress IDMC has made and the impact it has had since its establishment in 1998. It has been a rewarding opportunity to reflect on our accomplishments, take stock of what we’ve learned and find new ways to apply these lessons to our work now and into the future.
Children, women and men were forced to flee their homes more often in 2022 than ever before. The war in Ukraine, violence in Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and other conflicts around the world led to the highest levels of global displacements in a decade, and more than twice as many as the previous year. Displacements triggered by disasters also reached new highs. Unprecedented floods in Pakistan, drought and food insecurity in the Horn of Africa, and major storms across Europe, Africa and the Pacific contributed to total disaster displacement in 2022 being more than 40 percent higher than the aver- age for the preceding ten years.
These new displacements came on top of pre-existing, protracted situations which had left over 70 million living in internal displacement at the end of 2022. Every one of these IDPs’ individual stories of loss and suffering reinforce the importance of our efforts to document their situations and make sure the world addresses their needs as an integral part of global and national priorities.
Thankfully, there is a palpable shift underway towards more understanding, recognition and commitment to addressing internal displacement across the world. The 2020-2021 UN Secretary-General’s High Level Panel on Internal Displacement and the appointment of a UN Special Adviser on Solutions to Internal Displacement have generated political momentum and provided a mechanism to make progress real and durable.
At IDMC, we are feeling this momentum. We are now monitoring over 250 countries and territories, feeding our database with over 350,000 sources, a notable leap from the ten countries and fewer than 1,000 data sources twenty-five years ago. And an increasing number of governments are taking note, coming to us for data and tools, technical advice and best practices, opening new spaces for dialogue and learning.
The 2022 edition of our Global Report on Internal Displacement (GRID) made a compelling case for development approaches to displacement, reinforcing the report’s reputation as the global benchmark for internal displacement data and analysis. Its spotlight on the needs of children and young people caught up in displacement laid the ground- work for more child-sensitive policies and programmes.
With our partner and co-producer the Asian Development Bank (ADB), we published our first-ever regional report on disaster displacement in the Asia-Pacific region based on 12 years of data and analysis on displacement associated with sudden and slow-onset disasters. Multilateral development banks are showing increasing interest and commitment to addressing internal displacement, and we very much look forward to continuing our collaboration with development partners such as ADB, the European Union’s Department for International Partnerships (INTPA) and Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), while exploring similar opportunities with the African, Inter-American and Islamic Development Banks in 2023.
In addition to these major reports, we published close to 30 research reports, case studies, technical papers and expert opinion pieces in 2022. Our team organised, convened or spoke at numerous events with policy makers and practitioners in Africa and the Americas, Europe and across the Pacific Ocean. Thanks to the unprecedented support we received from our funding partners last year, we were able to add new expertise to the IDMC team and move to a new office space in Geneva, shared with the Norwegian Refugee Council and other international partners.
Our achievements over this quarter century have been possible thanks to the support of our financial, technical and political partners. Your recognition of the importance of this work and your willingness to respond to its dynamic needs have been invaluable in allowing us to meet evolving demands and to fulfil our role as the leading source of data and analysis on internal displacement.
As the number of people forced to flee their homes in 2022 reminds us, there is still tremendous work to be done. Our progress last year and over our 25-year history, along with the momentum in countries facing displacement challenges, those funding work to address them and in the UN, are all reasons for hope that solutions are possible.
On behalf of the IDMC team, I would like to thank you all sincerely for your trust and support. We look forward to continued collaboration with all of you to better under- stand and address the challenges of internal displacement.
Sincerely,
Alexandra Bilak
IDMC Director