SPECIAL EDITION: WORLD on the MOVE : Who Are the People on the Move?

International organizations generally recognize three different categories of “people on the move.”

* REFUGEES--People living outside their country of nationality, afraid to return for reasons of race, religion, social affiliation or political opinion. The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees counts more than 15 million refugees in the world today, including 5 million in Africa.

* INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS--People forced to flee their homes due to armed conflict but who have not yet crossed international boundaries. There are an estimated 14 million of these people. Like refugees, they have generally lost all they own and are not protected by their national governments.

* MIGRANT WORKERS--People, both skilled and unskilled, who work outside their home countries. They include the legally employed, migrants without legal permission to work abroad and undocumented immigrants. It is estimated that there are as many as 50 million migrant workers and their families around the world, with as many as half of them “illegals.”