Page 214 - Encyclopedia Of World History

564 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

the International Refugee Organization, the United
Displaced Nations Children Fund, the Food and Agriculture Orga-

nization, and later to the United Nations High Com-
Populations, missioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Currently, the concept
of “displaced populations” is used to designate categories
Typology of of populations, not just individuals, that are forcibly dis-

placed from their habitat for different causes. Given the
opulation displacement is the process through which vast numbers of people in such situation today, popula-
Ppopulations are forced to leave their habitat and pro- tion displacements represent one of the major problems
ductive activities and compelled to seek alternative loca- on the international agenda and on the internal agenda
tions and modes of securing their living. Such forced of many countries, particularly developing and transition
population dislocations are due to a variety of causes, countries.
which take different forms, encompass in their totality The concept of “population displacement” differs from
large numbers of people, and exert both immediate and the traditional concept of “population migration” in that
long-lasting negative effects on those affected. displacements are involuntary, coerced; they are forced
Given their high frequency and magnitudes, and upon those displaced either through physical violence
because they are ultimately rooted in societies’ political, (including life-threatening violence), or through legal
economic, and environmental structures, population dis- enactments (including expropriation by eminent domain
placements and resettlements are one of the main cate- or other kinds of government decrees), or by dint of nat-
gories of contemporary demographic processes. Social ural calamities (e.g., floods, volcanic eruptions, etc.).
sciences such as sociology, anthropology, geography, People caught in such processes do not have the choice
economics, and political science increasingly research the of remaining in their place. Conversely, the concept of
causes, contents, and consequences of displacement and “migration” defines population movements that have a
resettlement. different social causality and content, as these involve the
deliberate decision-making by the individuals who
The Concept migrate (as, for instance, in the context of rural-urban
As a concept, the term “displaced person” (“DP”) was first migration or international migration). Migration is schol-
used at the end of World War II to define persons liber- arly defined as a movement by choice resulting from an
ated from the extermination camps or labor camps set up individual’s “perceived relative deprivation” (Stark & Tay-
by Nazi Germany, but not yet relocated to their home- lor 1991) and from his aspiration to overcome such dep-
land and into a stable settlement.The allied powers cre- rivation by migrating elsewhere.
ated (1943) a special organization—the United Nations Over the last 10–15 years, the attempts to emphasize
Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA)—to certain similarities and a “continuum” between migration
assist displaced persons, especially in Europe and China. and forced population displacements have resulted in the
UNRRA repatriated some 7 million displaced people promotion of a somehow hybrid concept—“forced migra-
and provided temporary shelter for about 1 million tion”—widespread now, but lacking scientific precision.
refugees unwilling to return to their countries of origin, This concept is increasingly criticized for being a contra-
until they were resettled elsewhere, overcoming huge dif- diction in terms and for overstating continuity and under-
ficulties in finding a “place” and in their integration.There stating the deep differences between displacement and
were about 1 million Europeans still homeless five years migration. It is therefore important to stress that the
after the end of World War II. In March 1949, UNRRA’s essential distinction between forced “displacement” and
functions were transferred to other U.N. agencies, such as “migration” reflects objective structural differences among