Internally Displaced Persons, or IPDs, are “Persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of, or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized State border.”[1]

IDPs are often fleeing for similar reasons as refugees but remain within their country of origin. Internal displacement can be either forced or obliged. Like refugees, the preferred solution for IDPs is repatriation, the only option constituting a fundamental and inalienable right (i.e., the right of return) that can be implemented by individuals independently of the search for durable solutions.

[1] Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, E/CN.4/1998/53/Add.2.