Displacement is Increasing While Durable Solutions Remain Elusive

The last decade saw the highest ever number of people internally displaced by conflict and violence: 79 million people were displaced between 2010–2019.

Internally displaced persons (IDPs) continue to make up the majority of people fleeing conflict, violence and natural disasters, while durable solutions remain elusive. Many of these people remain in protracted displacement. In 2019 alone, disasters caused 24.9 million new displacements, while 8.5 million people were newly displaced by conflict and violence.¹ By the end of 2019, there were an estimated 50.8 million new and existing IDPs, including a record 45.7 million people displaced due to conflict and violence.² Preliminary figures show that between January and June 2020, there were a further 14.6 million new displacements across 127 countries and territories. Conflict and violence triggered 4.8 million displacements, and disasters triggered 9.8 million. Most conflict-induced displacements took place in Africa and the Middle East, while the majority of disaster-induced displacements occurred in Asia.³

The 2020 half-year figures for Cameroon, Mozambique, Niger and Somalia are already higher than those for the whole of 2019. Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Syria also recorded a significant number of conflict-induced displacements. As such, the total conflict-related displacement figures for 2020 are likely to be even higher than for 2019.⁴

The number of refugees doubled from 10 million in 2010 to 20.4 million in 2019.⁵ More than two thirds of displacements across borders at the end of 2019 originated in just five countries: Afghanistan, Myanmar, South Sudan, Syria and Venezuela. Developing countries host 85 per cent of refugees.⁶ As crises become increasingly complex and protracted, fewer refugees can return home. Only 3.9 million refugees returned between 2010 and 2019 compared to nearly 10 million the previous decade.⁷

IDPs and refugees are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 and its secondary effects. The risk of COVID-19 outbreaks in camp or camp-like settings remains real. This is due to crowded living conditions and limited access to water, sanitation and health facilities. Movement restrictions have impeded voluntary returns or escape from unsafe areas, and asylum seekers face particular challenges⁸ while access to asylum procedures has been hindered in some countries. Stigmatization and discrimination against forcibly displaced people are on the rise. And the heightened protection risks facing IDPs and refugees in normal times have been exacerbated under COVID-19, especially for women and girls. The INFORM COVID-19 Risk Index shows that 6 of the 10 countries most at-risk of COVID-19 host a combined population of 17.7 million IDPs.⁹

The direct health impacts of COVID-19 will be dwarfed by the indirect ones. These include disruptions to immunization campaigns and essential health services, rising food insecurity and the economic fallout, all of which will hit forcibly displaced persons particularly hard, depriving many of their livelihoods and jobs, particularly in the informal economy.¹⁰ According to a survey of IDPs and refugees in 14 countries, 77 per cent had lost a job or income since March 2020, 71 per cent reported difficulty paying rent or other basic housing costs (many had been evicted) and 70 per cent had reduced the number of meals for their household.¹¹

Forcibly displaced persons’ vulnerability to COVID-19 calls for their inclusion in national COVID-19 responses, a heightened focus on efforts to address gender-based violence (GBV) among displaced populations, advocacy to combat stigmatization and discrimination, and a stop to forced returns to insecure places of origin.

Most importantly, COVID-19 reinforces the imperative to advance durable solutions for forcibly displaced persons, which will reduce underlying vulnerabilities. The UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement, which held its first meeting in February 2020, is tasked to provide the Secretary-General with innovative and concrete recommendations for Member States, the UN, NGOs and other stakeholders to better prevent, respond to and achieve solutions for internal displacement. The Panel’s report is planned for September 2021.