NEW YORK - Urban displacement is fast becoming one of the most urgent human rights challenges of our times, warned the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs), Paula Gaviria Betancur, in her report to the General Assembly today.
"Cities can offer opportunity and protection, but they can also deepen vulnerability. The human rights of displaced persons must not end where city limits begin," Gaviria Betancur said.
According to the report, around 60 per cent of the world's 83.4 million IDPs - more than 50 million people - now live in urban or peri-urban areas. Many seek safety and opportunities in cities but instead face precarious living conditions, overcrowded housing, exclusion from essential services, and discrimination.
"Rapid and unregulated urban expansion has left many municipalities without the tools or resources to protect the rights of those displaced," the Special Rapporteur said.
She stressed that durable solutions - whether return, integration, or settlement elsewhere - must be treated as equally valid, rights-based options.
"Ending displacement is not just about physical relocation," the expert said. "It is about restoring rights, dignity, and belonging. Every person has the right to rebuild their life in safety, with their rights fully protected."
Gaviria Betancur called for stronger national laws and public policies on internal displacement, alongside empowered and well-resourced local governments. She urged States to integrate displacement into national development planning, expand social protection, ensure tenure security and adequate housing, and invest in mental health and psychosocial support. She also called for a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach that includes displaced people in decision-making.
"Internally displaced persons are not burdens," the Special Rapporteur said. "They are contributors who bring knowledge, skills, and resilience to the communities that host them. Inclusion is not only a right, it strengthens societies."
The expert also highlighted the urgent need for reliable, disaggregated data to ensure displaced persons are visible in urban planning and budgets. "What isn't counted, doesn't count," she said. "The absence of IDPs from official statistics leaves countless families without the protection they need."
She called for greater investment in housing, tenure security, social protection, and mental health support.
"Internally displaced persons are not only survivors of crisis, they are agents of resilience and hope, rebuilding their lives against all odds," Gaviria Betancur said.
"The international community has the tools, the knowledge and the responsibility to act," she said. "With inclusive and rights-based policies, cities can become places where displacement does not mean exclusion, but the beginning of dignity, safety and belonging."
