The total number of people internally displaced by armed conflict, generalised violence and human rights violations worldwide as of the end of 2012 was estimated to be 28.8 million. This represents an increase of 2.4 million on the previous year, and is the highest figure IDMC has ever recorded. Around 6.5 million people were newly displaced, almost twice as many as the 3.5 million during 2011.

The National Commission on Land and Other Properties (Commission Nationale des Terres et Autres Biens or CNTB) in collaboration with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and its Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) organised a workshop on the role of the CNTB in promoting durable solutions for internally displaced people (IDPs), on 10 November 2011 at Chez André in Bujumbura.  

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Displacement continues to rise in the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. But the good news is that this year’s Global Overview shows a steady decline in IDP numbers in Africa, dating back from 2004. This positive trend gives us hope. Indeed, the African continent remains at the forefront of policy development in support of IDP rights. In 2009, the African Union adopted the Kampala Convention – the first ever instrument for the protection and assistance of IDPs to bind countries across a whole continent.

According to the government agency Acción Social, around six per cent of national territory has been abandoned, while between 3.3 and 4.9 million people have been displaced by conflict and violence in Colombia. Roughly half of the internally displaced families owned or occupied land before their displacement. Almost all of them have lost it as a result.

Armed conflict broke out in Côte d’Ivoire in 2002, which caused the country to be divided in two: the north under the control of the Forces Nouvelles rebels and the south in the hands of the government. It also caused the mass displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. In the west of the country, and in particular in the two regions of Moyen Cavally and Dix-Huit Montagnes, the crisis provoked a series of successive displacements involving population groups with competing claims over land.

In the north-western department of Chocó, near Colombia’s border with Panama, forcibly displaced people have established “Humanitarian Zones” in a bid to hang on to their land and livelihoods. (...)

Para Que Se Sepa – in English Let It Be Known – is a compilation of life stories told by people displaced by Colombia’s years of internal armed conflict and massive human rights violations.

Internal displacement in Kenya is a complex and multi-faceted social problem that revolves around and reflects unresolved issues of land and property, as well as the struggle for the control of political and economic resources. (...)

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Report produced in conjunction with the Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights and assessing the forced displacement of Palestinian communities as a result of the West Bank Wall and its regime.

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Forced displacement in Colombia is primarily a way to seize agricultural land from peasants and small farmers, and only to a lesser degree the unintended consequence of fighting between warring parties. (...)

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The Land Act, 2012

The Land Registration Act, 2012

The National Land Commission Act, 2012

The Environment & Land Court Act, 2011

The Urban Areas & Cities Act, 2011

Public land is a resource that should be effectively managed in the public’s best interest in line with provisions of the Constitutions of Kenya and the Land Act. The management framework governing land use and development decisions on public land should ensure protection and sustainable management of the land. Despite these provisions in law, recent media reports point toresurgenceof public land grab. The Land Development and Governance Institute commissioned this research study to establish the status of the public land management in Kenya.