Internal displacement has become one of the most pressing humanitarian crises today, with the Global South being especially affected. Despite this, internally displaced persons (IDPs) remain underrepresented in humanitarian policy and academia. While attention for IDPs is increasing, the extent to whether the label actually embraces all circumstances of internal displacement can be questioned. We argue for a revision of contextualisation and conceptualisation of IDPs. Hence, drawing on a survey of literature and concrete examples from Ethiopia, the article revisits the concept of IDPs with the central aim of broadening its understanding. By tracing its emergence, evolution, and underlying assumptions, the findings show that the IDP label dominantly refers to displaced people in refugee-like situations. As a result, a large number of IDPs, such as those who are forcedly resettled and left unintegrated, are rendered invisible. Concretising processes of displacement within the Ethiopian case further illustrates the impacts of narrow conceptualisations and consequently, advances insights into possible drivers and types of IDPs. This illustrates the need for the scholarship to go beyond policy labels and adopt a contextualised understanding of IDPs while also contributing towards improving research and governance on the subject of IDPs.

中文翻译：

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寻找隐形人：以埃塞俄比亚案例研究重新审视“国内流离失所者”的概念

国内流离失所已成为当今最紧迫的人道主义危机之一，全球南方尤其受到影响。尽管如此，境内流离失所者 (IDP) 在人道主义政策和学术界的代表性仍然不足。虽然对国内流离失所者的关注正在增加，但该标签是否真正涵盖所有国内流离失所情况的程度值得质疑。我们主张修改国内流离失所者的情境化和概念化。因此，本文通过对埃塞俄比亚的文献和具体例子的调查，重新审视了国内流离失所者的概念，其中心目的是扩大对它的理解。通过追踪其出现、演变和潜在假设，研究结果表明，IDP 标签主要指的是处于类似难民境地的流离失所者。结果，大量的国内流离失所者，例如那些被强制重新安置和未融入社会的人，就变得隐形了。埃塞俄比亚案例中的具体流离失所过程进一步说明了狭隘概念化的影响，因此，进一步深入了解了可能的驱动因素和国内流离失所者类型。这说明奖学金需要超越政策标签，对国内流离失所者进行背景化理解，同时也有助于改善国内流离失所者主题的研究和治理。