They Outnumber Refugees But Don't Often Make Headlines
The world is riveted by the ongoing refugee crisis. Less so by the ongoing — and much larger — internally displaced persons crisis.
Refugees make headlines. Internally displaced people don't.
Maybe their plight eludes the limelight because, unlike refugees, they don't cross international borders ... or seek to enter the United States or Western Europe, where people debate how many of them to let in ... or undertake harrowing voyages across the Mediterranean.
And maybe it's because of their official label. "Internally displaced persons" (also known as IDPs) sounds vague and a bit confusing, as if they were lost inside themselves.
And "internally displaced person" doesn't sound nearly as dramatic as "refugee." I asked Elizabeth Rushing, who works with IDP
