Forced migration refers to the coerced movement of a person or persons away from their home or home region. It often connotes violent coercion, and is used interchangeably with the terms "displacement" or "forced displacement". A specific form of forced migration is population transfer, which is a coherent policy to move unwanted persons, perhaps as an attempt at ethnic cleansing. Someone who has experienced forced migration is a "forced migrant" or "displaced person".
Forced migration has accompanied religious and political persecution, as well as war, throughout human history but has only become a topic of serious study and discussion relatively recently. This increased attention is the result of greater ease of travel, allowing displaced persons to flee to nations far removed from their homes, the creation of an international legal structure of human rights, and the realizations that the destabilizing effects of forced migration, especially in parts of Africa, the Middle East, south and central Asia, ripple out well beyond the immediate region.
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