'More than 41 million people worldwide are displaced in their own country'
More than two-thirds of all displaced persons worldwide are not refugees but are homeless in their own country. According to experts, these people are given insufficient protection.
More than a quarter of all internally displaced persons are in African countries south of the Sahara, according to Assistant Professor Carolien Jacobs on the website AllAfrica.com. 'Reasons vary from country to country why these people are on the run in their own country, but violence is usually a key factor.'
In theory, you could say that internally displaced persons should have an ‘easier’ life than refugees who have crossed over the border. 'They retain their citizenship with its corresponding rights. They don’t have to go through the whole asylum procedure’. But the problem is that the internally displaced persons often live in countries where government authorities cannot provide them with a safe existence. 'The rights of internally displaced persons are protected less well than those of refugees. They are not registered anywhere and remain under the radar of the authorities and humanitarian aid organisations.’