Internal Displacement: The Humanitarian Crisis in Sudan

Discourse around forced migration tends to focus on movements across borders, with a huge amount of debate and research into issues surrounding refugees and asylum seekers. Less attention is paid to the issue of internal displacement and its consequences on both individuals and societies. Using the example of Sudan, which is currently facing the world’s largest internal displacement crisis, this article will outline some of the key defining elements of internal displacement, as well as some of its consequences.

Internally displaced persons (IDPs) are defined as those “who have been forced to flee their places of habitual residence and who have not crossed an internationally recognised State border” (Deng 1999). These movements are predominantly caused by the effects of armed conflict, natural or manmade disasters, or violations of human rights. At the end of 2022, there were over 70 million IDPs globally, which was the highest number ever recorded since this figure has been monitored (IDMC 2022).

Internal displacement has been a major problem in Sudan since the outbreak of the Darfur Crisis in 2003, where inter-communal land disputes and tensions erupted into severe levels of conflict and violence (André and De Almeida 2023). The outbreak of a civil war in April between rival factions of the military government in Khartoum has exacerbated the crisis, both due to the large numbers fleeing Khartoum and by reigniting the inter-communal conflicts in Darfur and in other regions (UNHCR 2023). There are now over 7.1 million IDPs within the boundaries of Sudan, with 4.5 million of these being displaced since April 2023. Furthermore, there are over 1 million refugees from other countries in Sudan (IOM 2023).

The case of Sudan illuminates the potential severity of the consequences of internal displacement. The vast majority of IDPs in Sudan are staying in camps lacking electricity and adequate access to nutrition. Over 1 million are in camps in Southern Darfur and many have been there for over 10 years (IDMC 2023). The issue with internal displacement is that IDPs remain under the protection of the state in which they are displaced. National authorities have the primary responsibility for protecting IDPs (Draper 2023). However, in cases such as in Sudan, where there is no national government to provide protection, large levels of internal displacement can cause large scale humanitarian crises. The role of international organisations and NGOs, such as the UNHCR, is vital in providing protection and essential services to IDPs, especially when states cannot protect their own members (Draper 2023). However, in Sudan, the extent of the violence has made it very difficult for international organisations and NGOs to access the regions most in need of humanitarian assistance and severe weather and droughts has impacted the abilities of families to feed themselves (UNHCR 2023). According to the International Organisation for Migration, over 80% of IDPs in Sudan are reporting that health services are either not available or inadequate and 86% have no access to electricity (IOM 2023).

Even in cases where the situation for IDPs is less dangerous than in Sudan, internal displacement has major economic and social consequences. A lack of a permanent residence makes it very difficult for individuals and households to have a secure economic situation and it can cause major disruptions to the education of children (IDMC 2023). Given the scale of the current global internal displacement crisis, it is important for the international community to pay greater attention to the risks faced by IDPs and the greater socioeconomic and political consequences of internal displacement.

Bibliography
André, Clémentine, and Tomás De Almeida. ‘IN SUDAN, 10 YEARS OF DISPLACEMENTS IN 10 WEEKS’. Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, July 2023.

Deng, Francis M. ‘Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement’. International Migration Review, vol. 33, no. 2, 1999, p. 484. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.2307/2547706. Draper, Jamie. ‘Justice and Internal Displacement’. Political Studies, vol. 71, no. 2, May 2023, pp.

314–31. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1177/00323217211007641. ‘Five Things to Know about the Crisis in Sudan’. UNHCR, Sept. 2023.

Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) (2022) Global Report on Internal Displacement 2020. Geneva: IDMC.

‘Sudan Faces World’s Largest Internal Displacement Crisis’. IOM, Oct. 2023.