This description of IDPs is taken from the main global framework on IDP assistance and protection: the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, which were created within the United Nations system. The 30 guiding principles on how IDPs must be treated that are contained in this document set out the pertinent standards that States, governments, humanitarian organisations, armed groups and other entities should follow.

But tens of millions of people remain internally displaced in today’s world, with numbers reaching historic highs. Internal displacement is thus a major humanitarian, development and social justice challenge. The varied and intersecting nature of the drivers of internal displacement – including conflict, generalised violence, disasters, climate change, development projects and governance failures – can make internal displacement a complex challenge that is difficult to surmout.

Internal displacement takes place within countries, which differentiates it from refugee movements that take place across borders. Disaster displacement is documented all across the world. Conflict-driven internal displacement, by contrast, occurs mainly in the developing countries where conflict or generalised violence now cluster. Globally, attention to IDPs is minimal in comparison with that accorded to refugees and international migrants.