ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the work of aid agencies and other actors with displaced populations, both internally within states and as refugees across borders. The issues surrounding refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), and how to cope with them, are amongst the key challenges for development actors and those working in conflict-affected states. Refugees and IDPs differ in important ways, with implications for the responsibilities of the states and the international community under international law. Development may incorporate processes which can work to help the displaced, but it should be remembered that development can be a cause of displacement. In particular, indigenous populations and poor communities who lack official ownership of their land, or whose use of it is not deemed productive, can be forcibly displaced by governments wishing to develop that land. A very common practice amongst international organisations dealing with forced displacement is the implementation of early warning systems designed to prevent forced migration in situations of violent conflict.
