Chapter 04 · People & supply chainsHuman Rights & Social Sustainability
Displacement
Definition
Displacement is the movement of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or to avoid armed conflict, generalised violence, human rights violations, or natural or human-made disasters (IOM Glossary). People who remain within their own country are internally displaced persons (IDPs) under the 1998 Guiding Principles; those crossing borders may become refugees or asylum seekers. UNHCR recorded 68.7 million internally displaced people at end-2025, and disasters displaced 29.9 million people in 2025.
References
Overview
What it means
The human face of conflict, disaster and — increasingly — climate stress; displacement is a status of lost home, not just movement.
How it is used
The term structures humanitarian response, protection mandates (UNHCR, IDMC statistics), durable-solutions policy and emerging climate-mobility frameworks.
Why it matters
Displacement is a core social-sustainability and climate-justice metric; development projects and conservation can also cause it, making it a due-diligence concern.