A displacement camp or 'protected village' at the height of the conflict in northern Uganda. Most of these displaced families have returned to their villages, but the UN estimates that about 300,000 people remain in camps like these.

More than 1.8 million people lived in over 250 camps throughout the conflict between the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan governmentwhich lasted for over 20 years and ended in 2006. 

Those who are still living in the displacement camps today are getting minimum government support. A plan for recovery ( peace, recovery and development plan (PRDP)), launched in 2007, was executed by the UNHCR. As the UNHCR is now withdrawing from northern Uganda there are growing fears that the remaining displaced will be neglected.  The Ugandan government, however, claims it will extend the PRDP programme for another 3 years.

IRT's work in the region is therefore crucial. We started work in the region 20 years ago when the majority of the population was displaced and refugees from Sudan flooded the country. Now that most Sudanse refugees have returned to their country and the IDPs to their villages, IRT is still active in the region. Many of the people we work with were displaced for such a long time, that rebuilding their lives is going to take many years. With a focus on long term projects and reviving the agricultural economy we hope that our beneficiaries will one day no longer live in poverty and can live independently of aid.

Read 'Northern Uganda's displaced people are left to fend for themselves' in the Guardian.

Last year the Refugee Council launched the 'Proud to protect refugees' Pledge to remind people about the UN Refugee Convention, the international treaty which guarantees refugees’ rights. The Convention was signed 60 years ago, however protection for refugees is just as relevant today as it ever was.

The Pledge asks the government 'to show international leadership on refugee issues and to encourage all countries to meet their obligations toward refugees'. 

The Pledge is to be presented at Parliament in March 2012. At the event a discussion will be held on the issues which came out of various seminars which have been hosted along side the campaign.  The Refugee Council will also be introducing their forthcoming policy initiatives. 

To support this campaign to raise awareness about the need to protect refugees, please sign the Proud To Protect Refugees Pledge.

Society's most vulnerable: this little girl was forced with her family to leave their home in the rural areas of Colombia and flee to the slums of Bogota to find safety. A peace deal between the Farc and the government would mean that one day they can return home.

The left-wing Farc rebels, who have been responsible for murder, kidnappings and drug trafficking in Colombia since the 1960s, have suffered a number of setbacks at the hands of the Colombian government in recent years. Last November, their then-leader Alfonso Cano was killed by state security forces, along with a number of fighters.

The last ceasefire between Farc and the Colombian government ended in 2002, when Farc hijacked a plane. President Santos has stated that new talks cannot begin before Farc release all hostages and end attacks in the country.

Despite massive anti-Farc demonstrations across Colombia last December, Farc still hold sway in many rural areas, in part due to revenues raised from cocaine production and trafficking. They illustrated the threat they still pose on Saturday, attacking and destroying a radar installation in southern Cauca region. This attack resulted in the death of one policeman and disruption of aviation across large areas of Colombia.

IRT supports a community development organisation in Colombia’s capital, Bogota. This organisation works with internally displaced people (IDPs) who had to flee the country side due to the continuing unrest, teaching them skills such as breadmaking and IT.

Read more about IRT's projects in Colombia.

Although many displaced people are able to return home in Eritrea, tensions along the border with Ethiopia remain and there are still thousands of Eritrean refugees in Sudan. They are extremely vulnerable to abductions and trafficking.

Mr. Guterres spoke of a “criminal network of smugglers and traffickers” who are exploiting the desperate situation of thousands of Eritrean refugees, many of whom are attempting to reach Israel.

This criminal network, which is active in at least Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt, kidnaps refugees for a ransom of up to $10,000. If this ransom is not paid, the refugees are sometimes “killed for the traffic of organs” in Egypt’s Sinai desert, Mr. Guterres has stated.

To tackle this problem, which until now has gone unnoticed by the international community, UNHCR has asked for $2 million of funding to work with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and Sudanese authorities.

Two days following this announcement, Sudanese authorities announced that they captured “a network of people smugglers”, who had been running an operation smuggling Eritrean refugees to Israel. Four Eritrean refugees were found with the people smugglers, along with weapons, satellite telephones and false documents, highlighting the professionalism of these criminal groups.

However, despite the recent Sudanese effort, it is believed that hundreds of Eritreans are still being held in the Sinai by Bedouin gangs, who are taking advantage of the political situation in Egypt to escape prosecution and profit from the desperation of Eritrean refugees.

IRT works on sustainable development projects in Eritrea with internally displaced people (IDPs) from the Ethiopia-Eritrea conflict. These IDPs were displaced for many years and are now trying to return home and rebuild their lives. IRT aims to help them get back on their feet. Go to IRT's Projects in Eritrea for more information. 

Indication of location of Thai-Burma border in relation to the UK. Thailand has been receiving refugees from neighbouring Burma for decades. Click on map to view the location of Hpa-an in Burma, where the ceasefire was agreed, and Mae Sot in Thailand, where IRT supports various refugee projects.

This could be a major breakthrough for Burmese refugees, a large number of whom are Karen, especially coupled with the recent government reforms and release of political prisoners in Burma.

The KNU has been fighting for greater autonomy for Karen state since 1949, which has led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. The Burmese army has been accused by human rights groups of summary executions, torture and rape, as well as looting and the destruction of property.

Members of the Karen diaspora are cautiously optimistic upon hearing the news, with Karen Communities Worldwide urging the government to “solve the political problems behind the conflict, such as the guarantee of ethnic rights and culture". Until this happens, the group maintain that “it is not safe to return to Burma".

A Burmese family in Mae Sot, Thailand, at one of IRT's projects. We support Burmese refugees by providing education and skills training as well as opportunities for income generation.Despite previous ceasefires failing, and often being exploited by the military to make gains into ethnic regions, there is more optimism attached to this one, given the current political environment in Burma.

Following internationally condemned elections in November 2010, most viewed the new civilian government led by Thein Sein as a puppet administration for the military regime. Since then however, Thein Sein has embarked on a number of reforms, including the release of hundreds of political prisoners such as pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

However, while a long-term peace agreement is yet to be reached between Burma's government and ethnic minority groups, tens of thousands of refugees remain in Thailand. It is here that IRT provides support to local organisations by funding schools, skills training for adults and income generation projects.

Watch the Associated Press (AP)'s report on the ceasefire and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's comments on the event.

IRT's supporters will be running the London 10K for Burmese refugee families in Thailand this year. Find out more about the London 10K Run 2012 here.

Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, Chair of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1533 (2004) concerning the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The LRA is one of these rebel groups active in Congo, although they had reportedly moved into the neighbouring contry of teh Cetnral African Republic. However, it is believed that LRA are stil active in DRC as well.

The main points the report states regarding the LRA are firstly that there is currently no evidence of involvement in illegal exploitation of natural resources, which was previously believed to be taking place. Rebel groups in the east of the DRC are notorious for having a share of the profit of illigal expoitation of resources such as timber in order to finance their military needs.

Also the report claims there is no evidence of external support from Khartoum. Rumours of Khartoum's support for the rebel group are rife. Khartoum certainly has supported the LRA in the past when it was more active in South Sudan.

Lastly, LRA groups which moved to the Central African Republic are likely to have returned to Congo. This means the threat of LRA attacks is far from over for Conoglese civilians.

You can download the full report here: Final report of the Group of Experts on the DRC submitted in accordance with paragraph 5 of Security Council resolution 1952 (2010) - S/2011/738 2 December 2011

To found out more about teh experts who were involved in the report, here are the names of the team -

Chair:

Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti

Members of the group of experts:

Fred Robarts

Nelson Alusala

Ruben de Koning

Steven Hege

Marie Plamadiala

Steven Spittaels

Great speculation has occurred as to what happened once the bombs were dropped. According to an aid worker the bombs landed by an air strip, a school and on a market. The commissioner of local Pariang County, Miabek Lang, told reporters that 12 people had been killed and 20 people were wounded. However, other reporters in the area said there were no casualties.

A BBC reporter said a UN helicopter, carrying food aid, settled onto a makeshift landing zone at the camp as there was a deep and terrifying thud of a nearby explosion. A large plane was spotted heading to the north. Several residents of the refugee camp told him it was an Antonov plane, often used by the Sudanese government as a makeshift bomber.

While the two nations continue to discuss how to split lucrative oil revenues and the fate of the contested region Abyei, a spreading rebellion inside Sudan has prompted the Sudanese government to accuse the south of providing military support to the rebels.  

Bogotá mayor Gustavo Petro, a former leftist rebel, acknowledges supporters as he celebrates his win

Mr Petro said that his win showed that reconciliation was possible in Colombia, which is plagued by violence from left wing guerrillas and right wing death squads. Thousands die each year in Colombia’s armed conflicts, which are fuelled by cash from the illegal narcotics trade.

The former rebel Petro joined the M-19 guerrilla group when he was still a teenager and was jailed and tortured by the military in the early 80’s. When the M-19 group disbanded he turned to electoral politics, became a senator and gained nationwide fame when he started a series of investigations that became part of the so-called para–politics scandal that has landed more than 60 politicians in prison for crimes. He was given amnesty after serving two years in jail for his involvement in the guerrilla movement.

In his acceptance speech, Petro stated that ‘Bogota has chosen as its mayor a son of the peace processes of 1989’ and claimed that by electing him as mayor ‘Bogota is saying yes to reconciliation, yes to peace’.  

Bogota is Colombia’s biggest city and its gritty southern districts teem with tens of thousands of refugees from the country’s long running conflict.  Petro, an outspoken critic of former President Alvaro Uribe, will now have to restore the badly hobbled reputation of Bogota’s city hall and finish a series of infrastructure projects and upgrades that have been stood still for months.

The run up to the election was one the most violent in years, however, the Sunday vote appeared to be relatively calm with few disruptions reported as the military deployed 300,000 troops to keep the peace. 

Radio talk show host and conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh

Earlier this month President Obama sent US military trainers into Uganda to help shut down the LRA but Limbaugh has criticised the President for targeting the group in Uganda.

Speaking about president Obama’s plan to send 100 US troops to fight the LRA, Limbaugh said the ‘Lord’s Resistance Army are Christians. They are fighting the Muslims in Sudan. And Obama has sent troops, United States troops to remove them from the battlefield, which means kill them....So that’s a new war’.

In response to his attack, Evelyn Apoko, a 22 year old who was mutilated by the LRA 10 years ago when guerrillas took her from her community centre in Gulu, Uganda, has spoken about her three year ordeal. Watch Evelyn's appeal 'Dear Mr Limbaugh'.