Displacement
Displacement happens when people are forced from their homes and communities as a result of deliberate actions taken by other human beings for reasons that range from war, “ethnic cleansing,” and political differences to urban renewal. A refugee is a displaced person who has fled or was forced to flee his or her own country. Internment is when a displaced person is confined within a definite area.
The following are examples of campaigns against displacement around the world:
AFRICA
Thousands of workers from Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe are left homeless and displaced due to the fighting in Libya. Workers from sub-Saharan Africa face a greater threat because of anger towards Muammar Gaddafi’s use of mercenaries from that region.
Read about Libya: Stranded Foreign Workers need Urgent Evacuation.
Displaced families return to Angola after that nation’s brutal civil war to find devastation within their communities. Landmines, harassment and sexual abuse are among the challenges returning combatants have faced.
Read more about Angola: Displaced Still Suffering.
Côte d’Ivoire’s militia and government security forces made of Dozos (traditional hunters) have been targeting the hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the post-election violence, preventing them, by force, from returning home.
Read more in the report Côte d’Ivoire: Climate of Fear Stopping Return of Displaced People.
EUROPE
Between June and August, 2011, over 500 Roma were evicted from their camps in Marseille. Some of them were subjected to violence by French citizens and police. When homeless and scattered, they become more vulnerable to harrassment and violence.
CENTRAL / SOUTH ASIA
50,000 Sri Lankan civilians remain trapped even as 36,000 flee their home country in the wake of fighting between Sri Lankan troops and LTTE rebels.
Read Oxfam International Aids Thousands Displaced by Sri Lankan Conflict.
More than 200,000 people, mostly ethnic Georgians, have been left displaced by the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict that ended 18 years ago. About 47,000 people have returned to the Gali District, the only part of the break-away region of Abkhazia to which the de facto authorities have allowed displaced people to return.
Read about the Abkhaz authorities’ interferences into the rights and freedoms of displaced returnees in the report Living in Limbo: The Rights of Ethnic Georgian Returnees from to the Gali District of Abkhazia.
MIDDLE EAST
Over 30,000 Afghan civilians have found themselves in urban areas after escaping from violence in rural regions. They live in poor sanitary conditions, and without assistance from the Afghan government, many are reduced to begging to feed their families.
Watch a video on Afghanstan’s Displaced.
WORLDWIDE
The Internal Displace Monitoring Centre monitors conflict-induced displacement worldwide.
Women who are internally displaced persons face risks of sexual abuse and assault, including forced prostitution and trafficking, because of poverty and a lack of resources.
Read about Internally Displaced Women.
The more than 13 million internally displaced children forced from their homes because of conflicts in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas are at risk of domestic violence, forced labor, recruitment into armed groups, and sexual exploitation.
Read more in Internally Displaced Children
“It is so sad to leave family. But I said to myself that I could meet my family somewhere, sometime, if I could stay alive…” Every day people make the agonizing decision to leave their homes because they are afraid for their lives.
Help Amnesty International defend the rights of refugees around the world.
Speak Truth to Power’s Defenders speak out on issues of displacement around the world.
Action Center to End World Hunger
Kosovo
The armed conflict in Kosovo in the late 1990’s resulted in the displacement of over 800,000 Kosovars. As of 2008, it was estimated that 22,000 minorities are still displaced within the borders of Kosovo.
Iraq
Since the start of the 2003 war in Iraq, almost half a million Iraqis have sought refuge in Jordan. Many arrived with little more than what they were carrying.
Learn more about these and other issues of displacement around the world and explore how you can Take Action.
Where have people faced similar issues in the past?
- District Six Museum
South Africa - Japanese American National Museum
United States - Liberation War Museum
Bangladesh - Maison des Esclaves
Senegal - Peace School Foundation of Monte Sole
Italy - Terezín Memorial
Czech Republic