BY GETACHEW MINAS
Internally displaced persons (IDP) in Ethiopia have been subjected to miseries, depression and desolation. Some of the key drivers of IDPs are social conflicts, desert locust outbreak, recurrent severe climatic shocks such as floods and droughts, and socioeconomic impact of COVID-19. During a political transition, armed conflict and community violence remain critical concerns across the country. These crises heightened competition over resources in certain areas, creating further inter-communal violence and displacement. The TPLF used these crises to worsen the situation of IDPs. Millions of Ethiopians have been internally displaced due to political and communal conflicts instigated by the junta.
The rural people have been experiencing the worst desert locust outbreak over a long period of time. This worsens an already shocking food insecurity and nutritional problem. The desert locust plague has damaged thousands of hectares of cropland across several regions, destroying crops and livelihoods of the rural people. This resulted in severe acute malnutrition, reflecting a rapidly worsening nutritional situation. Recurrent floods and droughts, together with measles and cholera outbreaks placed the people at further risk. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic worsened the humanitarian crises. As a result, millions of people were living below the poverty line. Women have been more affected by economic crisis, including gender-based violence, which has seen on the rise. These crises caused miseries for IDPs.
Millions people are estimated to need urgent humanitarian assistance in the coming years. The disabling socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19 are projected to continue into 2021. Moreover, the ongoing insecurity generated by the TPLF may continue to severely undermine the availability and access to food and other basic goods and services unless it is removed in time. The desert locust surge is most likely to persist into the next year causing damage to crops and pasture despite “concerted” control efforts. Predicted La Niña conditions and below-average rainfall particularly in some parts of the country loom to aggravate food insecurity and other humanitarian needs. Also, the increasing social unrest, instigated by the TPLF forced communities to be internally “displaced,” competing for depleting resources.
As millions of internally displaced persons are in need of humanitarian assistance, many more people are expected to join them. Added to these are the multiple shocks that affect various groups of people in different ways, including physical and mental disasters. The IDPs are amongst the groups that are hardest hit by severe health crises in the country. They faced increasing risks of disease outbreaks, in addition to water and health needs. Internally displaced women and girls who travel long distances to reach water and health facilities are exposed to dangers and hazards. As T. Nahom pointed out, they may be subjected to evacuation, along with older people and persons with disabilities. The IDPs are also exposed to heightened threats, including gender based violence, due to poor safety and insecurity.
Repeated disasters and protracted displacement erode coping capacities, forcing more people to adopt survival mechanisms. Studies show that IDPs residing in insecure areas face inadequate security in communal spaces. Most of these IDPs are children, including unaccompanied and separated ones, subjected to child labor, child trafficking and sexual exploitation and abuse. Dangerous and risky child labor is also prevalent in Ethiopia. Additionally, IDP returnees who have returned to their area of origin face sharp and unique encounters. Where IDP returnees reside, they may be faced with extreme humanitarian menaces and threats. Often lacking legal documentation, IDPs are exposed to additional perils and jeopardies, including restriction of movements.
The IDPs face limited access to safe and adequate shelter, education, health and even humanitarian assistance. They may face acute shortages of resources, which lead to dire living conditions and threat of outbreak of communicable diseases. IDP children in Ethiopia have been severely impacted by the worsening humanitarian situations particularly by lack of nutrition which deteriorated due to social conflicts created by the TPLF. It blocked access of people to food items donated by humanitarian agencies. The junta impeded access to markets causing high food prices, exacerbating the critical nutritional situation.
With a national prevalence of anemia among children, stunting rates in the country has aggravated. As the food and nutrition situation deteriorates, children will be increasingly subject to negative coping mechanisms. They may be subjected to early marriage, forced to drop out of school. IDP children also encountered different forms of vulnerabilities, including domestic violence, forced sex and other forms of social disorders. They also faced severe humanitarian challenges, such as essential health services which are not provided at temporary shelters. Most of the IDPs reported the need for access to water and food. These persons suffered from psychological and physical trauma as they experienced physical abuse, sleep deprivation, illegal detention, forced labor and embezzlement. .
The IDPs face serious poverty, chronic unemployment, limited livelihood and lack of economic opportunities. They tend to embark on hazardous journeys in search of better opportunities in the neighboring regions, making them increasingly vulnerable to risks. Most IDPs returned to their original place after spending time with very few or no belongings or assets. These persons are exposed to abuse and violence by inhuman rogues and rascals. Lacking the financial resources to return home, most of them are at risk of becoming stranded in unfamiliar cities with little resources to access official or unofficial safety networks. This risk is particularly acute for unaccompanied children separated from their families.
Most of the IDPs faced a restricted mobility due to political crises created by the TPLF. Other IDPs were moving for economic and health reasons. The economic causes of IDP movement must be understood in the context of communities disproportionately dependent on subsistence agriculture. Added to this are a population boom, increasingly scarce farmland, and extremely limited employment opportunities in non-agricultural sectors. Irregular IDP movement is often the only available coping mechanism during severe poverty. Also, the deliberate act of the TPLF to dislocate the people from their place of origin worsened the severity of poverty. In so doing, the junta disposed the IDPs of their possessions, and destroyed what is left from destruction.
IDPs in Ethiopia predominantly live in sites with collective accommodation or in spontaneous settlements where they lack dignified and safe living conditions. They have insufficient access to basic services, and lack necessary resources to sustain their families and communities. Other social problems have exacerbated the dangers faced by IDPs in congested and communal accommodations. These dangers have created the need to immediately improve their living conditions. IDPs have very limited access to land and cultivation. In some cases, IDPs are relocated to areas where “host” communities already lacked access to natural resources and basic services, causing further tensions. Internal displacement has an impact on people following the destruction of homes and lack of safety. People who are displaced by conflict and drought tend to remain dislocated for longer period of time as compared to people displaced by flood or landslide.
Those persons displaced by flooding could be returned to their place of origin after the flood is over. Many IDPs, however, remain in forced displacement because of housing, land and property rights violations, including the destruction of means of income. The main obstacle for IDPs to return to their home is the damage and destruction of property. The lack of essential services and infrastructure also affect them from coming back to their place of origin or villages. Due to lack of access to humanitarian assistance, displaced persons are no longer recognized by authorities as IDPs. It is reported that the IDPs are being kept in inhumane conditions in camps while awaiting their return to their place of origin. Most of the IDPs are unaccompanied children separated from their families, further increasing their vulnerability to socioeconomic challenges.
They also suffered from increased political polarization, hate speech, and growing ethno-nationalism. Also several situations of generalized unrest have prompted security incidents in the regions which have had severe impact on humanitarian operations that affected the IDPs. They were also subjected to violence, following social and political unrest. Such incidents resulted in loss of lives, casualties, detentions, displacement, and destructions of private and public property, road blockade and restriction of movement. The insecurity significantly affected humanitarian operations for IDPs due to suspension of assistance. Political tensions escalated local disputes leading to ethnic clashes that flared up repeatedly. This affected people living in the disputed areas as well as the IDPs. At the same time, the external media promoted ethnically divisive political messages and hate speech, fueling violence and displacement.
Among the major drivers of IDPs are social conflicts and natural calamities. Social chaos is in turn caused by political transitions, armed conflicts and community violence. Severe climatic incidents such as recurrent drought and flood have forced people to migrate internally. These migrants move to new localities where they come into contact with other people. The IDPs are further faced with violence from residents in the new localities. They are forced to relocate to other place within the rural areas. In these areas, the TPLF instigated further clashes between people, leading to inter-communal violence.
The communal violence has impacted humanitarian operations, assistance for IDPs, and assessment of humanitarian needs. The violence has caused communication blackouts, distortion of events that lead to further social discontent, inciting more violence. The junta exploited this situation for extending disinformation and hate speech. It also used its affiliated media that encouraged ethnic violence. It conducted ethnic cleansing, annihilating, decimating, and overpowering the poor rural people. The aid looting junta is like a “hungry dog” that has no attachment, affiliation nor sympathy for any living being, including the internally displaced persons and cattle. In so doing, it is instrumental to foreign intruders that are determined in dismembering Ethiopia, but this is only a fruitless dream as witnessed in history.
The Ethiopian Herald September 16/2021
