Twenty-five million people around the world have been forced to leave their homes as a result of conflict or natural disasters. Yet as a result of a legal quirk, these individuals -- unlike the 13 million others whose flight takes them across international boundaries -- have no special status and enjoy no legal rights. That injustice must be remedied.

A refugee by definition is someone forced from his or her home. According to international law, however, a refugee is someone who has been forced from his or her homeland. The distinction is critical. An individual who has not crossed a border has no protection under international law; he is instead an "internally displaced person."

More and more people are falling into that category -- and through the cracks. The number of "internally displaced persons" -- a phrase described as "odious" by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke -- grew by almost 25 percent last year. During 1999, the number of countries with 500,000 or more such refugees swelled from 12 to 18.

Refugees come under the mandate of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and have special protection under the Geneva Conventions. It has been suggested that the UNHCR assume responsibility for the internally displaced as well. But that is unworkable; UNHCR is already overburdened.

In 1998, the U.N. developed a set of guiding principles for dealing with the internally displaced. That is a start, but much more needs to be done. The U.N. just sent a mission to investigate the plight of such refugees in Ethiopia, and is planning to visit Colombia, Sudan, Angola, Burundi and possibly Sri Lanka. A set of recommendations are to be presented to the organization early next year.

No great institutional initiatives will be forthcoming. Rather, there will be calls for better coordination among U.N. agencies and nongovernmental organizations. Member countries will be asked to increase contributions; to its credit, Japan has been quick to help thus far. But the most important shift must be attitudinal: Governments must not be allowed to perpetrate whatever abuses they wish against their citizens. That is what creates the internally displaced; the willingness to look away when abuses occur guarantees that their number will swell.