Nowhere to Go: The Life of Internally Displaced Persons

Written by Quennie B. Sereno /THE RED CHRONICLES
Layout by Jed Paul O. Naval/THE RED CHRONICLES

Once upon a time, there was a peaceful, beautiful neighborhood called the Swat Valley. Then came a group of armed men. Originating in Afghanistan, they called themselves “Taliban”, or students in the Pashto language.

Soon, the Taliban’s influence has spread over to Pakistan, whose western territories are home to Pashtuns, where Taliban leaders were trained, and which have financed the Taliban. They carried out attacks across Pakistan which left countless innocent people dead. The people of Swat Valley were forced to leave their homes. 

One girl stood up. She fought for her right to receive an education. For that, she was shot in the head by the Taliban. Her name is Malala Yousafzai. 

Malala was awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize for her fight for every child’s right to get an education. But her story is one of many. Now a refugee in the United Kingdom, she was once an internally displaced person.

Who Are Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons

Like the people in Swat Valley, conflict, violence, persecution, and disasters, whether natural or man-made, force people to leave their homes. For people who have been arbitrarily forced from their homes, international law has coined the terms “refugee” and “internally displaced person” (IDP).

Refugees are those who were able to get out of their country – which means crossing an international border – but unable to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of persecution. The 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol primarily govern the rights of refugees. Since they are outside of their country of origin, the host countries where they are found are obligated to protect their rights. One of which, and considered to be the most fundamental right of refugees, is non-refoulement, that is, the right not to be returned to a country where they face serious threat to their life or freedom. 

On the other hand, IDPs are those who remain inside of their country and have not crossed an international border. There are many reasons why they remain to do so: they want to stay close to home, they are trapped with no access to help from their government or international aid, or they have no money or means to get out. The term is said to be merely descriptive since their rights are no different from those of civilians and the primary duty and responsibility to protect them rests in the hands of their national government, who may be unable or unwilling to do so.

Internal Displacement Across the World

Today, there are 75.9 million IDPs worldwide. In Sudan, over 8 million people have been internally displaced as a result of the power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – the same military factions which fought hand-in-hand to overthrow former dictatorial ruler Omar al-Bshir in 2019 and establish a democratic government, which the international community failed to oversee.

The people of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are also caught in the exchange of heavy crossfire between the Congolese army and a rebel group called M23 supported by the Rwandan government. The current crisis is the result of the postcolonial battle for power among various armed groups, aftermath of the Rwandan genocide involving ethnic tensions, and self-vested, competing interests of foreign countries over the DRC’s mineral resources. 

After four decades, the Taliban – a byproduct of Uncle Sam and the USSR’s rivalry over Afghanistan, the Soviet Union’s invasion, the civil war, and the US invasion – finally took over Afghanistan in 2021. With a radical Islamist group – notorious for silencing their opponents, targeting journalists and activists, carrying out assassinations – in power, Afghans had to leave. Many are refugees. Many live in camps near the borders. Many died trying.

Besides the threat of Pakistani Taliban, an offshoot of the Afghan Taliban, Pakistan is considered one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. It is faced with the challenge of rebuilding its country after being severely damaged by heavy rain and floods in 2022 which destroyed at least 2 million houses and displaced at least 8 million people. 1.5 million people remain displaced. 

Less than 10 years after Russia annexed Crimea, an area in southern Ukraine, which took the lives of thousands of people and forced a million people to flee, Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022 on the ground that Russian and Ukrainian people are one. The war has since cost the lives of thousands of soldiers and innocent civilians, reduced houses and buildings in ruins, and displaced 3.7 million people. 

Long before the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had already been forcibly driven away from their lands. The dream of having a Jewish homeland means the constant displacement of Palestinians up to this day. The Israeli State’s occupation of Palestine exacerbated this conundrum, leaving 1.4 million people in Gaza being displaced. 

The Dangers and Risks IDPs Face

The dangers the IDPs in Sudan, DRC, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Ukraine, and Palestine face are innumerable. For this reason, they are considered as one of the most vulnerable people in the world. 

These people lost their homes and the lives they knew. They are forced to seek refuge in schools, churches, or camps. Only to find that the enemy indiscriminately targets schools, churches, or camps. Exhibit A is Gaza. There is no permanency in the life of an IDP. They live a transient life. Sense of safety and security becomes temporary. 

IDPs become the subject of ethnic cleansing like the genocide being done by the RSF against the Masalit community, a dark-skinned African tribe. They are also at the risk of being illegally detained then summarily executed, randomly shot in their houses or on the streets like what the Russian soldiers did in Buccha when they left behind almost 300 dead bodies.

They become exposed to gender-based violence. Human Rights Watch documented accounts of the weaponization of rape by military groups in Sudan and DRC – wives, mothers, daughters are being raped in front of their family members. In Afghanistan, not only does a Taliban government mean the death of cultural life but girls aged 10 and above are banned from getting an education, women are required to be fully-covered and prohibited to go to work and go out without a male companion.

Besides sexual violence, children become victims of child labor in protracted conflicts. There is evidence of child labor being committed by armed groups in DRC – a country rich in cobalt, gold and diamonds. Foreign tech giants such as Apple, Alphabet, IncDell, Microsoft, and Tesla were accused of perpetuating child labor in cobalt mining. They were subsequently absolved.

IDPs are more likely to suffer from mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic syndrome disorder, and suicide. In Pakistan, heavy rains and floods, which destroyed countless houses and livelihoods, have engendered a cycle of displacement and despair among the people. Experts have termed this fatigue as climate anxiety. 

Displacement causes loss of livelihood among the IDPs. Such is the situation in Afghanistan, an impoverished country which has been the result of four decades of civil wars, foreign invasions, and natural disasters. After Pakistan ordered the deportation of undocumented Afghans, displaced Afghans live in camps near the border and risk their lives to cross into Iran to get a job and keep the wolf at bay. 

Food insecurity is also one of the challenges IDPs face. Over in Gaza and Sudan, people are dying of hunger. According to the UN World Food Programme, children are suffering from malnutrition while adults are facing catastrophic hunger in Gaza and people in Sudan are struggling to find food to eat. Acute hunger leads to widespread famine which ultimately results in death.

Response of the International Community to the IDP Crisis 

The rising number of IDPs and the untold dangers they face demand no less than clear and firm policies from the international community. 

More than a year after the fighting between the SAF and RSF erupted in April 2023, the Security Council has finally adopted a resolution calling for a ceasefire between the armed groups. With 7.1 million IDPs, and numerous human rights violations, it is high time that some action is taken towards the humanitarian crisis in Sudan after the Trump and Biden administrations have long ignored it.

On the other hand, in DRC, the Security Council will still have to vote to renew the mandate of 1533 DRC Sanctions Committee established to oversee the arms embargo imposed in 2004 as well as the Group of Experts assisting the said Committee. It will also have to decide whether to impose sanctions on Rwanda in light of accusations from the DRC and other Council Members of aiding the M23 and having forces within the country.

Except China, no other country has recognized the Taliban government since its takeover. Earlier this year, the Taliban government refused to attend a UN meeting reiterating its staunch insistence on the ban on girls and women. 

In response to the havoc wreaked by unprecedented heavy rains and floods in Pakistan, the international community garnered $536 million funds against the $816 million funding requirements and reached 7.9 million people out of the targeted 9.5 million people. 

Since the invasion, the US, Canada, Switzerland, EU, France, UK, Australia and Japan have imposed 18,472 sanctions on Russia including, but not limited to, export and import restrictions, freezing of Russia’s assets, and flight ban. As of today, the Security Council has not yet adopted a resolution concerning the Russia-Ukraine War, an outcome which won’t change anytime soon as long as Russia sits as a permanent member of the Security Council. 

On June 10, 2024, the Security Council, with Russia abstaining, adopted a resolution calling for an immediate, full and complete ceasefire in Gaza which also involves the release of hostages, withdrawal of Israeli forces in Gaza, and a reconstruction plan for Gaza. This comes after student protests have been happening across the world – US, Australia, UK, France, India, Canada, and Lebanon – denouncing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Lifeline for the IDPs

There are 75.9 million IDPs across the world who have nowhere to go, and nothing to fill their empty stomachs. These men, women, and children stand powerless against an aimless power struggle among armed groups, a repressive government that is clueless on how to run a country, the ruthless and unstoppable acts of nature, a state’s expansionist policy, or a policy of systematic displacement and ethnic cleansing. Not to mention, they become victims of unspeakable human rights violations. 

Since their national governments may be unwilling or unable to protect them, IDPs rely on the international community for a lifeline. The international community must continue to provide humanitarian assistance, impose sanctions if need be, and adopt courses of action with long-term goals. Even member states must have clear and firm policy towards a certain issue. 

If neither the international community nor the member states can perform their mandates,  it becomes imperative for ordinary citizens, students, professionals, organizations to speak out and pressure their governments to do their duty. To quote Malala, “I raise up my voice – not so that I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard.”

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