Quote of the Day
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”
— Desmond Tutu
These words from Archbishop Desmond Tutu have been used by the United Nations in calling ordinary people to stand against injustice, discrimination and abuse.
It is an uncomfortable sentence because neutrality often feels like the safest place to stand.
Two people are arguing. A neighbour is being mistreated. Someone at work is humiliated. A woman is abused and everyone knows, but nobody wants to interfere. A citizen is treated unjustly because of a political opinion.
We tell ourselves: It is not my problem.
Sometimes we even call that wisdom.
But silence has consequences too.
This does not mean that every disagreement requires us to choose a camp. Nor does it mean that we should repeat accusations we cannot prove. It means there are moments when the wrong itself is clear enough that refusing to acknowledge it helps the person who benefits from it.
Perhaps courage does not always look like marching in the street.
Sometimes it is simply being the person in the room who says:
No. This is not right.
Quote source: United Nations — Human Rights Day
Did You Know?
Most people forced from their homes never actually leave their own country.
When we hear the word displacement, it is easy to picture someone crossing an international border and becoming a refugee.
But millions of displaced people never cross one.
They are known as internally displaced people, or IDPs. They may flee a village because of fighting and move to another town. A family may leave home after repeated attacks but remain elsewhere in the same country. Unlike refugees, they have not crossed an internationally recognised border.
At the end of 2025, UNHCR reported 68.7 million people displaced within their own countries because of conflict or violence.
The distinction can sound technical.
For the family involved, there is nothing technical about it.
Home is still gone.
Children may still lose months of school. Parents may lose farmland, customers, jobs or documents. A family that once provided for itself may suddenly depend on relatives or strangers for somewhere to sleep.
This is particularly close to Africa. UNHCR reported in June 2026 that more than 14 million people were internally displaced in West and Central Africa alone. It also noted that countries including Cameroon are expanding access for refugees to services such as identification, education and health systems.
And in the Lake Chad Basin—including parts of Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria—more than 3.5 million people were forcibly displaced as of July 2026. Persistent attacks and abductions were still driving displacement in Cameroon’s Far North.
The terminology matters because it determines which laws, institutions and forms of protection apply.
But there is an even simpler point.
Crossing a border does not make displacement painful. Losing home does.
Sources
- UNHCR — Global displacement figures
- UNHCR — West and Central Africa
- UNHCR — Lake Chad Basin displacement
- United Nations — Human Rights Day
For discussion: When displaced families remain inside their own country, who should carry the greatest responsibility for helping them rebuild their lives?
Continue the conversation in the Migration, Identity & Inclusion room →
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