In the 1980s, Central America was one of the main battlegrounds of the Cold War. What began essentially as social conflicts over the lack of land for poor peasants, unequal distribution of wealth and restricted enjoyment of civil and political…
Citizenship or nationality is the essential link between an individual and the State. Establishing and preserving an individual’s right to nationality is a necessary prerequisite for the expansion and enforcement of all other human rights. Stateless persons have an equal…
Sixty thousand Burmese women are living in nine refugee camps in Thailand.[1] Many are survivors of rape and other forms of sexual abuse in war-torn Burma and continue to face sexual and gender-based violence even after fleeing to Thailand. Perpetrators…
Although the north-east is rich in natural resources it has remained under-developed, isolated and perpetually vulnerable to violent ethnic conflicts. Over 30 rebel groups are active in a region which is home to 200 of India’s tribal groups. As a…
Zambia currently provides refuge for around 175,000 refugees from Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and elsewhere. Despite its poverty, Zambia has been a generous host and has not put pressure on those Angolans who do not wish to repatriate.…
Many are surprised to learn that IRIN is a UN service. Housed within the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), IRIN offers editorially independent coverage of humanitarian situations. Ten years ago the creation of IRIN marked the start…
In June, Walter Kälin, the Representative of the UN Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, visited Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Serbia and Montenegro including Kosovo. Throughout the region he found that, several years after the armed conflicts of…
The Global IDP Project recently took the exceptional decision to extend its training support – usually for people displaced by conflict and violence – to actors involved in the post-tsunami recovery process in Aceh, Indonesia, where some 500,000 people are…
A seminar on internal displacement in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region was held in Gaborone, Botswana, 24-26 August 2005. Sponsored by UNHCR and the Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement[1], it brought together a wide range of actors, including…
In October 2005 I undertook a mission to study the situation of IDPs and returnees to the South. I realised that the Sudanese authorities, the international community and donors need to do much more to ensure the protection of the…