Displacement definitions
One page per term. Each gives a direct answer, the wording used in the legal instrument or agency framework it comes from, and the terms it is most often confused with.
Internally displaced person (IDP)
An internally displaced person has been forced to flee their home by conflict, violence, disaster or human rights violations, but has not crossed an international border. They remain inside their own country and stay under the legal protection of their own government.
Refugee
A refugee is someone who has crossed an international border and cannot return home owing to a well founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group. Refugee status carries specific protections under international law.
Asylum seeker
An asylum seeker is someone who has applied for international protection in another country and is waiting for a decision on that claim. The person may or may not later be recognised as a refugee, but the right to seek asylum applies while the claim is pending.
Protracted displacement
Protracted displacement describes situations where people remain displaced for many years without a durable solution in sight. UNHCR applies a threshold to refugee situations, and the concept is used more loosely for internal displacement where movement is long lasting and unresolved.
Durable solutions
Durable solutions are the recognised routes out of displacement. For refugees these are voluntary repatriation, local integration in the host country, and resettlement to a third country. For internally displaced people they are return, local integration, and settlement elsewhere in the country.
Stateless person
A stateless person is not considered a national by any state under the operation of its law. Statelessness can exist with or without displacement, and it blocks access to documentation, schooling, healthcare, lawful work and travel in most countries.
Looking for the full glossary?
The displacement glossary covers a wider set of operational and technical terms in a single list. These pages go deeper on the terms people search for most.