Protection Of Internally Displaced Persons In Internal Conflicts

There are some thirty million internally displaced persons (IDPs) today as compared to fifteen million refugees. The root causes generating refugees and IDPs are essentially the same: armed conflicts and human rights abuses. While refugees are protected by a number of international treaties and organizations, and are enjoying comparative safety in countries of asylum or resettlement, IDPs are not - supposedly on the ground that since IDPs are within their own country, their government should be responsible for their protection.