The return of millions of refugees and internally displaced persons to their homes following years of exile, the recent reduction in asylum flows to industrialized countries and the fall in overall refugee numbers worldwide represent a shift in the dynamics of forced displacement. Especially when compared to the mass refugee crises of the 1990s, the picture is undoubtedly a positive one for the large numbers of people who now have the chance to return home and rebuild their lives.

Yet the recent reduction in refugee numbers does not indicate a significant decline in forced displacement per se. While progress has been made towards solving a number of major conflicts around the world, many protracted conflicts continue to prevent millions of refugees from returning home. Peace, where achieved, is almost always uncertain. Violence and abuse continue to cause displacement and suffering, with many of those affected unable to seek or find effective protection.

Most forced displacement – whether caused by human rights abuses, natural disasters or development projects, or in the form of trafficking or abduction – takes place in poor countries, and has the greatest impact on the poorest and most vulnerable people in those societies. In some countries, entire populations are caught up in a pernicious cycle of extreme poverty and violence in which displacement and mobility have become part of complex coping and survival mechanisms. The efforts of humanitarian actors and the wider international community to mitigate such conditions have proved entirely inadequate.

Addressing the human rights abuses, development failures and conflicts that force so many millions to leave their homes remains an immense challenge. A better understanding of the local and global factors behind forced displacement and greater respect for the rights of uprooted populations is essential if prevention and protection efforts are to be effective. Also needed is greater cooperation between the many political, humanitarian and development actors concerned. Ultimately, the success of global efforts to reduce poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals will depend on the success of the international response to the crisis of forced displacement.

Development-induced displacement

Box 1.1 Globalization and migration