Internally displaced people

Civil war
An internally displaced person is someone who may have left their home in fear, but has not crossed an international border. The most common cause for this happening is war. From 1960 to 1996 Guatemala endured a 36-year civil war, during which hundreds of thousands of people were displaced.

The military evicted townspeople and occupied land which deepened pre-existing ethnic conflicts. Add to that disorganisation in land registers, and the scope for further disputes remains enormous.

Territorial disputes over landholding have even led to murder in Guatemala’s recent past, whilst indigenous people continue to face discrimination.

Nature’s role
Natural disasters also play a role in displacing people. In January 2002, approximately 400,000 people were displaced by the eruption of Mount Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of Congo, near the eastern town of Goma.

People lost their homes and livelihoods as the lava flowed over their town, yet some were so determined to rescue their belongings that they were willing to risk walking over still-burning lava to protect what remained of their homes.

Many people lost everything they possessed, as well as the land they worked upon, and therefore had no choice but to permanently leave the area.

Forced return?
Governments are often keen to ensure that displaced people return as soon as possible. At times, this means that people are effectively forced to return to areas chosen by the government.

For example, in 2002 the Russian authorities agreed a repatriation plan to deal with the more than 300,000 people who have fled the fighting in Chechnya.

Several tent camps in Znamenskoye in northern Chechnya were closed forcing the relocation of their inhabitants to the Chechen capital, Grozny. Yet this is still an unsafe area, and human rights violations continue to be reported.

Religion, too…
Belief and religion can also influence the movement people. The formation of the state of Israel in 1948 was the result of a desire to create a safe Jewish homeland. Yet this meant the inevitable displacement of other people, as land was needed for the new settlers arriving from elsewhere.

Over time, disputes over the right to land in this area have seen some of the bloodiest fighting in modern history, and the situation has become so politicised that there seems little hope of peaceful compromise, let alone settlement, of the conflict in the near future.