Conflicts
and violence have gone on the rise around the world over the years
forcing many people including Nigerians to take cover for their lives.
Nigerian IDPs
Agana, 18, fled her village when Boko Haram attacked. With her
husband killed in the ensuing violence, she now lives with her baby in
one of Nigeria’s ‘widow’s houses’.
She’s one of more than 40.8 million people around the world on the
run in their own countries, according to recent figures by the
Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, (IDMC).
Nearly one third of displaced people are on the African continent
where 12.4 million people in 21 countries were living in ongoing
displacement as a result of conflict and violence at the end of 2015.
A little acknowledged issue, the number of internally displaced
people (IDPs) across Africa is more than twice as many as the
continent’s total refugee population of 5.4 million, which only accounts
for those who have crossed national borders.
“We are always flabbergasted at just how little people actually acknowledge this issue,” says Alexandra Bilak, Director at IDMC. “There
are twice as many conflict IDPs as there are refugees in the world. The
figures are quite staggering, the problem is far bigger.”
What is internal displacement?
An internally displaced person is anyone who has been forced to
flee their habitual place of residence as a result of conflict,
violence, development projects and natural and manmade disasters,
regardless of whether or not they are a national of the country, says
Bilak, citing the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. While
conflict is the largest cause, natural disasters may also cause the
uprooting of communities.
1.8m displaced in Nigeria
Nigeria tops the list of African countries with the most new
displacements in 2015 when 737,000 uprooted. More recent figures from
the International Organization for Migration (IOM) show that the
situation is still dire, with 1.8 million people estimated to have been
on the move at the end of 2016. Many have taken refuge in the
displacement camps.
“There are huge camps outside the city, with upwards of 35,000
people in each, that are managed by the humanitarian communities such as
NGOs and UN partner, with the support of the government,” says Julia
Burpee, public information officer at IOM, who works with emergency
response in the areas surrounding Maiduguri, in Borno state in the
northeast of the country, near the border with Cameroon. Still, around
75% live in host communities, according to IOM. “Some live in other
people’s backyards. And you hear of families who left their homes and
gave their homes to IDPs.”
Idleness and despair inside the camps
Some camps offer informal education and other services. “They are
more like little villages. You see people set up small markets inside
the camps, selling food items, salt or condiments.”
Others wait idly and despair. Farmers have lost their land and workers their work.
“You see people sitting around idle, without jobs,” Burpee says. “There is really stark devastation.”
Forced to leave in a hurry, many are dependent on humanitarian aid, Burpee says. “I’ve
spoken to so many who share the same story. They fled their homes,
either at 5am or at 11pm because Boko Haram was already there and they
had to escape, or Boko Haram was arriving into their village or town.”
“They left with the clothes on their backs and a few things in their pockets.”
Not a refugee, yet
In the eyes of the law the internally displaced are different from
refugees. Not having crossed any borders, they remain under the
jurisdiction of their state, while refugees fall under international
humanitarian refugee laws, Bilak says.
“The problem is that in many cases, specifically in Africa, the
state itself has been involved in one way or another in causing the
displacement in the first place.”
“Their ability to seek protection and assistance from their government is in many cases very limited,” she adds.
The IDMC report was launched in collaboration with the African
Union in December to coincide with the anniversary of the Kampala
Convention, a joint effort by a number of African governments to work
towards the protection of internally displaced people which came into
force in 2012.
20m refugees worldwide
Preliminary IDMC figures for the first half of 2016 show that last
year may have seen even more displacement, the report says. Looking at
refugees, the global crisis is seeing an unprecedented surge according
to the UNHCR, who estimate that there are currently more than 20 million
refugees worldwide.
“Many of the refugees that we see today started off their journeys as IDPs,” says Bilak, noting that the issue needs urgent attention before more are forced to leave their countries altogether.
“It requires investment at the root of the problem, which is very much at home.”
The names of Yagana, who told her story to UNICEF, and some of the
people in the gallery have been changed to protect their identities.
***
Via CNN
No comments:
Post a Comment