Note
on terminology: "Refugee" vs "IDP"
The American
Heritage Dictionary defines "refugee"
as "
One who flees in search of refuge, as in times of war, political
oppression, or religious persecution." Other dictionaries add
that the term refugee "especially" (but not exclusively) applies to a
person who seeks shelter in another country. In the years
following WWII, various internationial agencies have begun to make a
differentiation between those who flee within the sometimes arbitrary
boundries of their own country and those who flee across international
bounderies, reserving the word "refugee" only to the latter and using
the term "Internally Displaced Person" (IDP) to describe the
former. This distinction rarely benefits anyone, and frequently
causes great injustice, especially when the conflict is itself about
the arbitrary imposition of
unjust borders by outsiders. In the present case, it is used to
justify subjecting those who have sought refuge to the jurisdiction of
the very same persecutors they are trying to flee. My choice of
terminology in this article is deliberate, and is based on these
considerations.