Introduction
When refugees cross borders, the host state usually requires them to register with the relevant authorities. There is a strong incentive to do so: registration is usually a precondition under domestic law to be able to enter asylum procedures, to be formally recognized as a refugee, and to get access to assistance. When people flee within a country to internally displaced person (IDP) camps or camp-like settings, there is often also an obligation under domestic law to register, and although benefits in terms of assistance and protection may be limited, these limited benefits provide at least some incentive for people to formally register themselves with the camp authorities.
Contrastingly, in urban settings in, for instance, the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), formal assistance is limited, and there is no clear incentive for IDPs to register themselves. Congo’s urban IDPs therefore often remain largely invisible, also because they blend with other urban dwellers, especially if they speak the same language, belong to the same ethnic group or share other cultural and socio-economic features. Authorities are reluctant to welcome and assist IDPs in Congo’s rapidly expanding urban settings, where conflict as a driver of displacement intersects with other drivers of urbanization and where resources and space are often already stretched to their limits. Integration then occurs largely in informal manners.
This short piece sheds light on some of the informal pathways through which Congolese IDPs integrate socially in urban settings. We understand social integration to be the process through which IDPs obtain a sense of belonging and being at home, while members of host communities come to accept IDPs to be part of their society. The more protracted displacement situations are, the more important it becomes for both IDPs and the host society that integration is achieved as a durable solution to displacement. We draw on a decade of empirical research which we conducted as a team, together with four other Congolese researchers in the east of the DRC. In this context, Congolese people primarily seek refuge in host communities, either in urban or rural settings, but much less in either formal or spontaneous camps and camp-like settings. Recent figures, for instance, refer to more than 6 million IDPs, whereas the number of IDPs living in formal camp settings is estimated at around 500 000 individuals. In the following we present 4 lessons on IDPs and their social integration in urban settings.
1. Social integration is not the prime concern of IDPs who seek safety and protection in urban settings. Finding stable housing and livelihood opportunities are.
When IDPs arrive in their place of refuge, their first concern is not to integrate socially. Their first concern is to find shelter; a place where they can find basic protection. In the first days or weeks after arrival, IDPs usually manage to find some form of shelter, often with relatives or friends who have left their community before them and who have established themselves a bit more sustainably. Arrangements with hosts, however, are often of short duration as space is limited. In densely populated areas, this means that many IDPs become tenants, but they often struggle to pay the modest rents. Not owning a house in the city themselves contributes to them not feeling fully at home, and as being temporary residents only. By members of the host community, they are also not seen as fully belonging as long as they are tenants.
The more urbanised and densely populated an area is, the more difficult it is to find shelter there. In the periphery of a city, or in rural towns, finding housing is easier as demands for space are less and prices more affordable. In a rural town which we visited, some displaced people told us that they were living in a house free of charge. Another advantage of seeking refuge in a rural town is that it can be easier to find access to land, and through that, secure livelihoods. In highly urbanised areas, IDPs primarily survive on the meagre earnings of informal day jobs with limited security.
2. Integration and social connectivity can help to address the prime concerns of IDPs. IDPs primarily integrate through informal pathways.
Social integration may not be the priority for people who are concerned about their everyday survival. Yet, integration can be of help in overcoming vulnerability and in rebuilding one’s life. IDPs who are able to craft social connections with urban dwellers are better able to obtain access to basic services and realise fundamental rights.
In our research in Bukavu, in the east of the DRC, we noticed three major types of connections through which IDPs integrate. First of all, family ties are crucial. Many IDPs follow in the footsteps of relatives who have fled some time before them or who have moved to the city for economic reasons. These relatives provide the first support upon arrival for IDPs. Frequently, however, relatives of new arrivals are not yet fully integrated themselves and therefore are limited in what they can offer.
Churches are other important entry points. The advantage of church connections is that they are inclusive and can easily be forged. Some IDPs join the same church denominations they used to attend in their home community. Others might turn to a different church denomination if it has more visibility, offers opportunities of jobs and protection or is simply closer to one’s home. Churches sometimes provide limited material support to newcomers. More importantly, church membership creates connections to other church members for moral support and consolation, but also for material support, or help in realising basic rights.
Thirdly, ethnicity can be a source of support. Whereas ties in ethnic networks are often less strong than family ties, and whereas membership is more exclusive than church membership, ethnic connections have the potential to strengthen people’s networks socioeconomically, including towards people in more powerful positions. In a city like Bukavu, for instance, which is dominated by the ethnic Shi and Lega communities, IDPs who are of a different ethnic group may have fewer entry points to integrate in the city.
3. Connections with home communities should not be overlooked in assessing urban integration.
Integration is about crafting a place for oneself in a new environment. To understand ways in which integration works, research tends to focus on the relationship between newcomers and their new social environment. In our research, however, we found that integration can also be facilitated by connections that people maintain with their community of origin and the resources they are able to mobilise in these communities. Through these connections and resources, IDPs in Bukavu are able to enrich the urban economy with products such as charcoal, honey, or agricultural products. This contributes to their economic empowerment and also to IDPs’ acceptance in the urban community: IDPs are not seen as a burden to the community but as people who add something.
Generally, to be able to add products to the urban economy, IDPs need to be able to maintain ties and mobility connections with their community of origin. Possibilities to do so are highly time-and-space specific in volatile contexts, where the security situations fluctuate and are not simply determined by physical distance. When we conducted research in a rural town in the east of Congo, we noticed that many of the IDPs had come from places within walking distance. Insecurity, however, prevented them from regularly returning and from accessing resources. Active maintenance of connections and resources was only possible for those who had sought alliances with the armed groups in control of their communities and the road between their place of refuge and place of origin.
Some IDPs in particular are completely disconnected from their communities of origin, but they also eschew seeking integration. We encountered several cases of IDPs who had fled after having experienced sexual violence or after having been forcibly recruited in armed groups. Having been rejected by their families or partners, they consciously prefer to hide their histories to avoid further rejection. These IDPs often find it difficult as well to seek integration as they fear their histories will be discovered. Hence, they cannot build on previous ties nor easily develop new ones.
4. The informal demands for integration can place high burdens on longer-term residents. Social integration should be approached as a two-way process.
Integration is important not only because it helps IDPs to rebuild their lives in material terms. It is also crucial for the peaceful coexistence of longer-term urban dwellers with newcomers. Especially in densely populated and popular areas, where competition over resources is common, newcomers can easily be frowned upon as yet others with whom resources need to be shared. Moreover, in settings in which the state is weak and where crime rates are high, feelings of animosity and suspicion may be rife among urban dwellers. The ‘unknown’ outsider may easily be scapegoated in popular and, therefore, densely populated neighbourhoods, where cases of theft and insecurity are widespread.
For people to integrate successfully, it is therefore important to seek rapprochement with the urban population – to make themselves known and to be seen. This reduces prejudices and stigmatisation but also helps integration. Local (neighbourhood) authorities can play a role in this. In our research, we came across some neighbourhood chiefs, for instance, who actively approached newcomers in their neighbourhood. It helped IDPs to be seen and to feel at home, but also facilitated further interactions, and sometimes opened up job opportunities or friendship between IDPs and long-term residents.
It should be noted, however, that IDPs often place burdens on members of hosting communities. Some hosts offering (temporary) housing to IDPs are motivated by family ties or Christian or traditional African values of humanity. Others have experienced displacement themselves in the past and have been received by benevolent strangers. They now feel the duty to return the favour. In the absence of humanitarian aid, host communities are the main providers of assistance, yet many of them have limited means themselves, and the support they provide cannot address the protracted situations of displacement in which IDPs find themselves. When considering policies and interventions to support IDPs, it would therefore be good to also include the host communities.
Carolien Jacobs is assistant professor at the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Society, Leiden University, the Netherlands.
Patrick Milabyo Kyamusugulwa is professor at the Institut Supérieur des Techniques Médicales-Bukavu, DRC. He is also the founder and director of The Social Science Centre for African Development- KUTAFITI.
The authors have worked together on internal displacement in the east of the DRC since 2014, amongst others in the EU-Horizon 2020 funded research project TRAFIG and in the Just Future Alliance, funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.
KEYWORDS: Internal Displacement, IDPs, Conflict, Urban, Integration, DRC
Bibliography
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Jacobs, C., S.L. Kubiha, and R.S. Katembera. 2020. ‘The upward spiral towards local integration of IDPs: Agency and economics in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’, Refugee Survey Quarterly 39(4): 537-543.
Jacobs, C., P.M. Kyamusugulwa, S.L. Kubiha, I. Assumani, J. Ruhamya and R.S. Katembera. 2022. ‘Is translocality a hidden solution to overcome protracted displacement in the DR Congo?’, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 48(18): 4313-4327.