From Responsibility to Response: Assessing National - Brookings

CHAPTER 1 Assessing National Approaches to Internal Displacement: Findings from 15 Countries
to keep track of the more than 50 percent of IDPs who
live in private residences instead of in collective accommodations
and to obtain information on their needs,
vulnerabilities and capacities. 4
In Yemen, while some registration of IDPs was completed
in accessible areas, it often neglected to take
family size into account, leaving larger families with inadequate
food supplies. 5 Loss of IDPs’ documentation
during flight also hampered registration. 6 According
to UNICEF, by July 2009 only 22 percent of IDPs were
registered as such due to various impediments, leaving
those who were not designated as IDPs unable to access
camps or aid. 7 A comprehensive needs assessment,
which was to be conducted by the international community
in areas affected by the conflict, was requested
by the Yemeni government in September 2008, but
actual undertaking of the assessment was effectively
blocked by the authorities until July 2009. 8 A turning
point was reached with the launch in February 2010 of
a uniform national IDP registration system in Sana’a
and the governorates of Amran and Hajjah. 9 With the
help of UNHCR and the cooperation of the central and
regional authorities, training and capacity-building
programs were undertaken to support the rollout of
an IDP registration system. 10 If fully implemented, the
system would focus on those uprooted by the conflict
and would provide reliable data on IDPs and their living
conditions for the first time. However, in March 2010,
the government decided to stop registering new arriv-
4 See further the Georgia case study in chapter 2 of this
volume.
5 IDMC, Yemen: Constrained Response to Protection Needs
of IDPs and Returnees, July 2009, p. 89 (www.internaldisplacement.org).
6 IRIN, “Yemen: No ID, No Registration as an IDP,” 4 April
2010 (www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88742).
7 IDMC, Yemen: Constrained Response to Protection Needs
of IDPs and Returnees p. 100.
8 UNHCR, “Yemen Fact Sheet: June,” 30 June 2009 (www.
internal-displacement.org) and UNHCR, “UNHCR-
9
IDMC Correspondence,” July 2009.
UNHCR, “Yemen Fact Sheet: February 2010,” March 2010,
p. 2 (www.internal-displacement.org).
10 Ibid.
46
als, in particular due to a lack of resources for providing
them with humanitarian assistance; currently it is verifying
existing registers, while a number of IDPs remain
unregistered. 11
The general registration of IDPs without having a specific
purpose for registration entails the possibility of
overlooking IDPs while creating an IDP status through
registration. 12 In Sri Lanka, 13 enumeration of IDPs is
tied to registration, and the government generally registers
the conflict-induced “new IDP” caseload. However,
data collection is neither systematic nor uniform. The
Government Agent is responsible for IDP registration
at the district level. IDPs are registered whether they
are living in camps, with host families or in emergency
transit sites; this is considered to result in relatively efficient
and accurate district-wide enumeration of IDPs.
But the government has been accused of misrepresenting
reality by using incorrect terminology that suggests
that IDPs in transit and living with host families have
achieved a durable solution.
In instances in which national authorities do recognize
internal displacement and collect data, the provision
of assistance is usually based on registration, which
in turn is based on official recognition of “IDP status”
under national legislation. That means that registration
is often politicized, but often it also is flawed for other
reasons because of the lack of capacity of government
agencies to collect data. The politicization of who is
granted IDP status and/or who is registered is evident in
the exclusion of people whose displacement is caused by
particular events. For example, in Colombia, the definition
of “IDP” contained in Article 1 of Law No. 387
on displacement caused by violence is narrower than
the definition in the Guiding Principles as it excludes
those displaced by natural disasters or development
projects. The government of Colombia excludes from
11 IDMC, Yemen: IDPs Facing International Neglect, August
2010, p. 11 (www.internal-displacement.org).
12 E-mail message from UNHCR official, August 2010.
13 See further the Sri Lanka case study in chapter 2 of this
volume.