The finding that ‘for every internally displaced person able to return home someone else has been forced to flee’ explains that the rate of displacement of people across the globe is nowhere near slowing down. The Norwegian Refugee Council said in its Global Internally Displaced People Study 2004 that about 25 million of such people forced out of their homes make up one of the world’s neglected vulnerable groups. If Sudan topped the list at one million displaced last year alone, it also highlighted the fact that the international community could have done more to halt the process or at least ease the lives of those living in fear, hunger, disease and amid whole range of other problems. Then comes Colombia, Ivory Coast, Congo, Indonesia, Iraq, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Somalia and Uganda. The study estimates some 50,000 Nepalis have been displaced so far by the on-going conflict. A modest assessment, given that internal reports put it at one and half times the above figure.

People are forced to leave home and seek shelter elsewhere once the fear of persecution stalks them. That fear has evicted around 22 million people across the world for four years now. In Nepal’s case, those forced to flee homes are internal refugees, who have been living in tents and towns in the country, waiting for peace to be restored before they could return to their homesteads. In violence torn regions, the average length of the conflicts that caused displacement and prevented their return has been found to be 14 years, a long duration by any means. Nepal has been quite slow to awaken to face the reality when droves of people were forced to flee from rebel-affected areas either under intimidation or worsening security situation in the villages.

People are often forced to cross the international borders for security. And that brings to focus the attitude of those in a position to help. Much of Europe, though quite open to refugees, has been tightening its asylum procedures. But providing asylum is only one aspect of a broad range of requirements without which the refugees cannot live a dignified life. Ideally, they also need to work and earn. The world needs to do something to enable the displaced to get into some kind of work, a difficult suggestion, as it will mean greater competition in the face of rising unemployment in several countries. But work comes when security and other aspects are first addressed. Though the international community has been providing support to different categories of refugees, a lot more remains to be done to see that the displaced return home with dignity to lead a normal life. Unless each refugee finds a stable home to return to, the problem will have remained unsolved.