ABSTRACT
Mass population movements, fleeing from either natural disasters or conflict zones, have become an increasingly important feature of the modern world. At the end of the 1990s, a US study on the demography of forced migration concluded that 30 million people were estimated to be internally displaced, with 23 million refugees, mostly as a result of conflict. The difference between those internally displaced (IDPs), i.e. those remaining within a country of origin, and refugees who have crossed a border and are stateless, is important. The UN High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) has formal obligations for advocacy, responsibility and protection for refugees, but less so for those who are IDPs.
