Honourable Chair and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to brief you today on the issue of internal displacement.
I represent the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, a Geneva-based non-governmental organization established in 1998 as part of the Norwegian Refugee Council. For over 25 years, IDMC has provided the international community with data and analyses on internal displacement caused by conflict, violence and disasters. We monitor internal displacement in over 200 countries and territories. Our mission is to highlight the plight of internally displaced persons—IDPs—who are often overlooked, and to inform decision-making with reliable data. We do not collect primary data; rather, we gather, curate and validate information from a variety of sources, including governments.
What do our data tell us about the scale of internal displacement? We released our annual “Global Report on Internal Displacement” just two weeks ago. As of the end of 2025, there were 82.2 million IDPs globally. Roughly two-thirds of forcibly displaced people are IDPs. This figure includes 68.6 million people displaced by conflict and violence across 54 countries and territories, as well as 13.6 million people displaced by disasters across 82 countries and territories. While the total number of IDPs fell slightly compared with 2024, it remained close to its historical peak. The decline was partly linked to reported returns, including in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Syria, many of which took place under fragile conditions. It was also linked to decreased data availability, partly because of aid cuts.
In addition to tracking the number of IDPs, we also monitor displacements or movements, which count instances of displacement within a given year, not individuals—since one person can be displaced multiple times—to get a sense of the dynamic nature of the phenomenon. Conflict and violence drove a record 32.3 million internal displacements in 2025, a 60% increase compared with 2024, surpassing disaster displacements for the first time on record. Iran and the Democratic Republic of Congo together represented two-thirds of the total.
Disasters also continued to drive large-scale movements. Storms, floods, wildfires and other sudden and slow-onset hazards triggered close to 30 million internal displacements in 140 countries and territories, a 35% decrease compared with the exceptionally high level in 2024 but still 13% above the annual average of the past decade. Many of these displacements were pre-emptive evacuations, showing that displacement can be a positive coping mechanism in disaster-prone countries. Many of these displacements were not short-term, although data on the duration of disaster displacement remain a major gap. Although IDMC figures treat conflict and disaster as distinct triggers, the reality is that these factors overlap in many countries, contributing to prolonged and repeated displacement.
Behind the data are millions of lives disrupted, communities torn apart and children deprived of their futures. The hardships faced by IDPs are severe. These include loss of shelter, safety, livelihoods and education. With the growing impacts of climate change and the multiplication of humanitarian crises, and in the absence of durable solutions, the number of IDPs is likely to remain high.
The 1998 guiding principles on internal displacement affirm that national governments bear the primary responsibility of addressing internal displacement. Internal displacement is surely a human rights and humanitarian issue, but it can't be only that. In 2019, at the request of 57 member states, including Canada, the UN Secretary-General established a high-level panel on internal displacement, which issued a seminal report that led to the adoption of his action agenda on internal displacement.
A key takeaway from these initiatives has been the call to shift from short-term humanitarian aid to more developmental approaches. With strong government leadership—where feasible—and appropriate international support, the cycle of protracted displacement can be broken. Today's IDPs can be prevented from becoming tomorrow's refugees, and durable solutions can be achieved. Positive developments have started in several countries, but the challenge of collectively sustaining momentum and accelerating progress to address internal displacement, in a time of declining international solidarity and respect for international law, remains.
We hope Canada, which co-chaired the Group of Friends on Solutions to Internal Displacement in Geneva until recently, will continue to demonstrate steadfast commitment to this important issue.
Thank you for your attention.