Over ten years of brutal civil war displaced approximately 4.5 million people, about half Sierra Leone’s population.[1] After the conflict ended in 2001, UNHCR facilitated the participation of both returnee refugees and returnee IDPs in community-level reconstruction projects. UNHCR’s response…
On 30 November 2006 Typhoon Durian affected over 2.5 million people in 13 provinces of the island of Luzon. In Albay province the heavy rain loosened volcanic ash from Mount Mayon, which cascaded into densely populated communities in and around…
Since 2005, 197,000 people have been internally displaced due to armed conflict between the government of François Bozizé and various rebel groups, and because of attacks by bandits known as coupeurs de route who take advantage of the government’s inability…
UNHCR’s responsibilities as regards IDPs have developed over time. Initially, the UN system divided responsibility for protecting and assisting IDPs on an ad hoc basis. In 2003, it sought to improve its response through an inter-agency ‘collaborative approach’, which allocated…
The tenth anniversary of the Principles offers an opportunity to review training progress. The Humanitarian Response Review (HRR) which led to the implementation of the cluster approach in December 2005[1] provided a catalyst for humanitarian agencies to reinforce and reorient…
In Burma, they have been used to raise awareness about displacement and mobilise humanitarian assistance but have offered little diplomatic or political leverage to influence the national authorities. During elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Kosovo, the Principles focused…
The 1951 Refugee Convention did not apply to internally displaced persons. Principal responsibility for providing for the well-being and security of IDPs rested with their governments but most were unable or unwilling to assume this obligation. Nor did international organisations…
The Oslo conference reaffirmed the Guiding Principles as an important framework for upholding the rights of IDPs and was encouraged by reports from a number of states that the Principles had been incorporated into national laws and policies and that…
The Guiding Principles were designed to reaffirm existing international human rights law and international humanitarian law – and to “clarify grey areas” and “address gaps”.[1] They were also meant to develop the law, rather than merely reflect existing law, but…