Legal Definitions - IDP

IDP stands for Internally Displaced Person.

An Internally Displaced Person (IDP) is someone who has been forced to leave their home or place of habitual residence, often suddenly and unwillingly, but who remains within the borders of their own country. Unlike refugees, who have crossed an international border to seek safety in another country, IDPs do not leave their home state. Their displacement is typically a result of armed conflict, generalized violence, human rights violations, or natural or human-made disasters.

• Example 1: Displacement due to Internal Conflict

  In a country experiencing a civil war, residents of a particular province are forced to flee their homes due to intense fighting and widespread violence. They travel to safer cities and towns in other provinces within the same nation, seeking refuge from the conflict.

  These individuals are considered IDPs because they were compelled to move from their homes due to armed conflict but did not cross into a neighboring country. They remain citizens within their original state, albeit displaced from their usual residences.

• Example 2: Displacement due to Natural Disaster

  A powerful hurricane makes landfall in a coastal region, destroying thousands of homes and rendering entire communities uninhabitable. The affected population is evacuated and relocated to temporary shelters and new resettlement areas established inland, but still within the same country's borders.

  The hurricane victims are IDPs because they were displaced from their homes by a natural disaster but have not left their country of citizenship. They are seeking safety and rebuilding their lives in a different part of their own nation.

• Example 3: Displacement due to Development Projects

  A national government embarks on a large-scale infrastructure project, such as the construction of a major hydroelectric dam. This project necessitates the involuntary resettlement of several indigenous communities whose ancestral lands will be submerged by the new reservoir. The affected families are moved to newly constructed villages in a different region of the same country.

  These families are considered IDPs because they were involuntarily displaced from their homes and traditional lands due to a state-led development initiative, yet they continue to reside within their national borders and remain citizens of that country.