U.N. seeks better care for 'internally displaced'

UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations has launched a new effort to help the world's 25 million internally displaced people, who often miss out on much-needed international aid because they aren't given the same legal rights as refugees.

Internally displaced people are those who have fled their homes but, unlike refugees, have not crossed borders to another country to escape war or political oppression. U.S. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke has revived the debate over granting more equal care to such people.

Responding to his call and others, a team of representatives from various U.N. agencies and international aid groups visited camps for internally displaced people in Eritrea and Ethiopia last month to see how aid groups could better coordinate their responses.

Other missions are planned for Colombia, Sudan, Angola, Burundi and possibly Sri Lanka, and a final set of recommendations is to be presented in February or March, said Dennis McNamara, the U.N. coordinator for the missions.

Refugees have an entire U.N. agency - the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees - to care for them and are granted special protection under the Geneva Conventions. Internally displaced, however, often fall through the cracks because aid groups lack the legal right to demand access to them.

Suggestions that the UNHCR take on caring for the estimated 25 million to 30 million internally displaced have been rejected by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who argues that the agency is already overburdened with the world's 13 million refugees.

McNamara said the review missions are the result of general agreement that the only way to handle the problem is to better coordinate care among other U.N. relief agencies - such as UNICEF and the World Food Program - and international aid groups.