Forced migration – changing trends, new reponses

In the contemporary era, the complex nature of disasters and conflicts generate an enormous potential for forcibly displacing large numbers of people. Worldwide, some 43 million people are either refugees or internally displaced persons (IDPs) removed by conflict and violence (UNHCR, 2012a; IDMC, 2012). Forced migration, in particular, is symptomatic of humanitarian crises and has many complex manifestations. The conditions, intensity and configurations of forced migration vary in time, location and relation to the crisis drivers and the different socioeconomic and political contexts. This situation poses new challenges and demand new responses from humanitarian actors in their strategies, tools, capacities and organizational architecture.