Six Months After the Official Closure of the IDP Camps - JRS Assessment of the IDP Return Process in Liberia

IDP camps in Liberia were officially closed in April 2006. This event, celebrated by the Liberian Government as well as by UNMIL, marked the end of the return process for the almost 320,000 IDPs who left for their communities of origin.

When visiting the camp sites, however, one may find people who still remain. Among them, there are former IDPs who want to integrate into the surrounding local communities. For them, there exists the risk of conflict with certain landowners looking to recuperate their land. Even more pressing though is the question of humanitarian assistance, since most of the NGOs left after the camps officially closed. As in the rest of the country, basic infrastructure (wells, latrines, clinics and schools) were destroyed during the years of conflict. Housing, which in most cases resembles only makeshift shelters, is in a deplorable state. The group most affected by this situation is the vulnerable (single mothers, elders and handicapped people). Often they were not able to return to their places of origin due to the lack of family members to care for them or out of necessity to stay near Monrovia’s hospitals.