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A Hidden Crisis

Melinda J. Morton, MD, MPH; Gilbert M. Burnham, MD, PhD

JAMA. 2008;300(6):727-729.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Internal displacement and refugee flight due to violence and instability have forced approximately 1 in 6 Iraqis from their homes.¹ The plight of persons displaced within Iraq by pervasive violence has received less attention than has the flood of Iraqi refugees into neighboring countries. Internally displaced persons (IDPs) within Iraq now number 2.8 million² and are far less accessible to aid organizations than Iraqi refugees.³ While the protection and care of refugees are covered in an international mandate, IDPs, fleeing for the same reasons as refugees, are covered by the weaker Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.⁴ Political issues over sovereignty are at the root of this disparity.

Internal displacement is not a new problem for Iraq. During the Saddam Hussein era, nearly 1 million fled repressions, the draining of the marshlands, and widespread human rights abuse. With the US-led 2003 . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Author Affiliations: Department of Emergency Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, and Sommer Scholar, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (Dr Morton); Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland (Dr Burnham).

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