Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who are forced to move to urban areas are commonly portrayed as urban IDPs, this definition negates the existence of indigenous urban poor populations who are susceptible to forced evictions; also fitting into the categorization of ‘urban IDP’. The existing frame and terms of definition assumes unilateral characteristics of who an urban IDP is, thus, aids the formation of generalized perceptions which could inhibit appropriate policy interventions for conflict-IDPs who move to urban areas. The emerging unique vulnerabilities facing this group mandates a review on the think-tank literature on the term urban IDPs. This working paper contends that pre-existing equity that the urban poor who become displaced within the city possesses presents a core divergence point between them, thus, the definition of the urban IDP does not fit the IDPs who are forced to move to cities. Using case studies from Colombia and Nigeria, it argues that conflict IDP due to their pre-existing vulnerabilities and being the outsider in cities are different; necessitating the need for differentiation to better inform urban planning, policy, and humanitarian response for both groups of displaced people in cities.
Rebecca Enobong Roberts is a Ph.D. candidate at the Habitat Unit, Technische Universität Berlin, she teaches community engagement at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Her Ph.D. explores the correlation between internal displacement, internal migration and the implication for cities. She possesses 11 years of experience in implementing and managing international development projects across 23 states and multiple cities in Nigeria, Dakar, Senegal, Pretoria and Johannesburg, South Africa, Accra, and Kumasi, Ghana. Her sectoral experience spans community organization, support and engagements, public health, public education, and human rights; including LGBTI rights, informalities (rights to the city, livelihood, and housing), sustainable urbanization, internal displacement, forced migration, youth development, public policy analysis, advocacy, project monitoring, and evaluation.
This paper was written by the author during her Summer Fellowship on Internal Displacement at the Internal Displacement Research Programme at the Refugee Law Initiative. The Fellowship was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, on behalf of the UKRI Global Challenge Research Fund, as part of the funded project “Interdisciplinary Network on Internal Displacement, Conflict and Protection” (AH/T005351/1).
