This special report examines key issues of protection and assistance affecting displaced people, from prevention of displacement in the first place through the phases that follow when it cannot be averted. It finds that those who stay or host the displaced can be as vulnerable as those who flee, or even more so, as can be those who return. Some who flee may not run directly from fighting or attacks, but from the economic consequences and disrupted access to essential goods and services.

The greatest need exists among people, displaced or not, who too often are out of sight of the world at large and, for most international organizations, unreachable.