16 September-27 October 2015 (E07315) | Closed
Instructor: Saeed Ullah Khan
This e-learning course provides an overview of the institutions and mechanisms that serve to protect IDPs. The course examines contemporary IDP situations around the globe with practical and operational lenses, providing participants with tools and skills to improve the quality of intervention and analysis.
There are some 27.5 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in more than 50 countries around the world—a population more than double the number of refugees worldwide. IDPs have been forced to leave their homes in search of safety; either fleeing armed conflict, generalized violence, human rights violations or natural disasters. They are often more vulnerable to rights abuses than other migrant groups because there are fewer international and national legal instruments that apply directly to IDPs. They also tend not to receive the same international recognition and subsequent protection that refugees do because they have not crossed an international border. While scholars, institutions and international organizations have increasingly focused on IDPs, there are still many unanswered questions, and humanitarian and human rights responses continue to seek better ways of understanding and responding to the needs of IDPs.