A Palestinian woman in Al-Fakhura school bombed by Israel during conflict. Photo: Emad Badwan
Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre – Norwegian Refugee Council
Internally displaced people (IDPs) have not crossed a border to find safety. Unlike refugees, they are on the run in their own country. IDPs stay within their own country and remain under the protection of its government, even if that government is the reason for their displacement. As a result, these people are among the most vulnerable in the world. http://www.unhcr.org/internally-displaced-people.html
March 16, 2016 - A recent report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to housing, Leilani Farha, has shown how homelessness has become a global human rights crisis. She highlights the risks faced by 59.5 million people who have been forcibly displaced by armed conflicts,[1] and over 19.3 million newly displaced due to disasters worldwide.
Conflicts and disasters are a cause of homelessness. Displaced persons, by definition, have to abandon their homes. Many of them have been forced to leave because of targeted discrimination. NRC’s research shows that this is compounded by the repressive social norms women experience within their families and communities. Those who face discrimination because of their ethnicity, place of origin and gender, are more likely to become homeless and, once homeless, are exposed to more serious protection risks.
Internally displaced persons (IDPs) are therefore part of the millions worldwide who have lost their homes and are subject to discrimination, stigmatization and social exclusion. NRC’s experience of supporting displaced persons shows that they face particular obstacles in housing during displacement. First there is the problem of finding a place to stay; if this is temporary and insecure housing they risk forced evictions and other human rights abuses. In post-conflict environments IDPs may struggle to assert their rights to restitution or compensation for their housing, land and property when they return.
Women Are at a Great Risk of Becoming Homeless
NRC’s Information Counselling and Legal Assistance (ICLA) programmes in 20 conflict-affected countries worldwide have found that displaced women are at a particular risk of losing their homes and becoming homeless.
Demographic changes in conflict result in increased number of widows and women-headed households among IDP populations. At a time when displaced women’s survival, and that of their families, depends on it, they find themselves in situations of insecure tenure or facing eviction. When a woman is evicted or loses her home and ends up having to live with relatives or host families, she is less likely to be considered homeless because she may not be ‘sleeping on the streets’. Nevertheless she can be in a precarious housing situation, having to compromise her safety, and forced to adopt risky coping mechanisms.
Violence Against Women
Conflict and displacement can also result in socio-economic ruptures within the family; the loss of work and income, as well as changes in social roles and status, which can result in an increase in family violence (more information here). NRC has found that displaced women may be forced to make a decision to stay in a violent and abusive relationship when the rent or ownership of the house is controlled by the abuser. The ability to access safe and affordable housing are two of the most pressing concerns for women to escape violence and remove herself and her children from an abusive situation. Therefore promoting displaced women’s security of tenure is a central objective of NRC’s legal assistance programmes in many countries.
IDP woman in Eastern Ukraine. See NRC report Housing, Land and Property Rights of Displaced and Conflict-Affected Communities in Eastern Ukraine. Photo - NRC/Zoran Filipovic
Извор: WUNRN – 25.10.2016
