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Roundup: Increase of IDPs reflects changing nature of global conflict

Xinhua, May 7, 2015 Adjust font size:

The increase of internally displaced persons (LDPs) over the last 10 years reflects the changing nature of global conflict as more and more civilians fall victims to both internal and external violence, according to an Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC) report on Wednesday.

Established in 1998, IDMC is part of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and has been monitoring global internal displacement trends through annual reports.

The report, Global Overview 2015, which uses data provided by governments, NGO partners and UN agencies, highlights a worrying trend as a growing number of IDPs find themselves trapped in dangerous conflict zones with no means of escaping.

According to the report, as of December 2014, a total of 38 million people have been internally displaced, representing a 4.7 million increase compared to 2013.

"This is a sign of a world facing fundamental problems," said NRC Secretary General Jan Egelan, who saw the report as a wake-up call for action.

The last three years have seen marked increases in the number of IDPs in the world, with 28.8 million in 2012 and 33.3 million in 2013.

This contrasts the 19.3 million IDPs reported 17 years ago when IDMC first started monitoring the phenomenon.

Sixty countries were monitored by the report which revealed that 60 percent of new displacements in 2014 took place in Iraq, South Sudan, Syria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria. Endit