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An internally displaced person (IDP) is someone who has been forced to leave their home for reasons such as religious or political persecution or war, but has not crossed an international border. The term is a subset of the more general displaced person. There is no legal definition of IDP, as there is for refugee, but the thumbnail rule is that if the person in question would be eligible for refugee status if he or she crossed an international border then the IDP label is applicable.There are currently nearly 20 million IDPs worldwide, roughly twice the total number of refugees. Internally displaced persons do not have a specific international legal instrument that applies to them as do refugees, because any attempt by an outside body to tell a nation how it should treat its own citizens has been seen as a violation of the principle of national sovereignty. This principle has come under pressure in recent years by those who feel a moral imperative to stop gross abuse of citizens by their governments. The most notable recent example was the use by the United States of mistreatment by the Iraqi government of its own population as a secondary excuse for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The United Nations recently agreed on non-binding Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement based on the refugee instruments. Nevertheless, there is no dedicated UN agency to deal with IDPs. This has led the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to act as ad hoc lead on IDP matters. As a result, it has been criticized for treating IDPs as less important adjuncts to their core mission to assist refugees.
1 Countries with Significant IDP Populations
- Colombia due to the war between the government, FARC, the AUC and other armed groups
- The Democratic Republic of Congo due to ongoing civil war
- Iraq due to political persecution and civil conflict under Saddam Hussein and the current instabilityThis is a history of the Iraqi resistance. Insurgency Begins (May-June 2003) In May of 2003, after the Iraqi conventional forces had been defeated, the U. S military noticed a gradually increasing flurry of attacks on U. S troops in various regions of the
- SudanAs distinct from the African region of the same name (usually shortened to the Sudan the Republic of the Sudan (or just Sudan is the largest country in Africa, situated in the northeast part of the continent. The capital is Khartoum. It borders Egypt to t due to civil conflicts in the SouthThe Second Sudanese Civil War started in 1983, although it is most accurately a continuation of the First Sudanese Civil War of 1955 to 1972. It has taken place, for the most part, in southern Sudan. It has been one of the longest lasting and deadliest wa and Darfur in the westThe Darfur conflict is an ongoing ( as of 2004) conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan between the Janjaweed, a Sudanese-government-supported armed militia recruited from local Arab tribes, and the black African peoples of the region. The conflict
- UgandaThe Republic of Uganda is a country in east central Africa. It is bordered in the east by Kenya, in the north by Sudan, by the Democratic Republic of Congo in the west, Rwanda in the southwest and Tanzania in the south. The southern part of the country in due to the insurgency of the Lord's Resistance ArmyThe Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is a rebel group operating in northern Uganda which was formed in 1987. It is led by Joseph Kony, who proclaims himself a prophet and apparently wishes to establish a state based on his unique interpretation of the Biblica
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