India: National and state authorities failing to protect IDPs

Armed conflict and communal or ethnic violence have continued to cause internal displacement in India, and hundreds of thousands of people or more were living in displacement as of August 2010. In addition to those who were forced to flee in 2009 and during the first half of 2010, many who had been displaced earlier remained in displacement, as they had not been able to reach durable solutions.

It is very difficult to estimate the total number of conflict- and violence-induced IDPs in India as there is no central government agency responsible for monitoring the numbers of people displaced and returning, while humanitarian and human rights agencies have limited access to them. The displaced whose numbers are known are generally living in camps and registered there, and no numbers are known of IDPs outside camps. A conservative estimate of the total number of people displaced by conflict and violence would be at least 650,000.