The experience of internal displacement is traumatic, life-changing and frequently life-threatening. Each person displaced has lost access not only to the home that offered shelter but also to security, dignity, cherished possessions, livelihoods, memories and a sense of belonging and…
In her Foreword to this issue of FMR, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, poses the question: Where do we go from here? In the 20 years since they were launched, the Guiding…
Since the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement were presented to the UN Commission on Human Rights in 1998, there has been important progress on preventing, responding to and finding solutions to internal displacement. Internal displacement nevertheless remains a significant global…
The launch of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement in 1998 was followed by the growing adoption of national instruments on internally displaced persons (IDPs), reflecting the recognition of internal displacement as a global phenomenon. Revised and updated by the…
As of mid-2017, 40 States which have experienced internal displacement had introduced some 69 domestic legislative instruments and policies (omitting minor policies and amendments).[1] Across these laws and policies there is clear acceptance that internally displaced persons (IDPs) require some…
Conflict-induced internally displaced persons (IDPs) have always enjoyed special protection under Georgian law. In 1996, two years prior to the launch of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, Georgia enacted its own law on internal displacement. Intended to protect those…
The African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons – the Kampala Convention, adopted in 2009 – owes its development in large part to the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. It reflects the international human rights…
The relatively young State of Belize – an independent nation only since 1981 – is perched on the eastern coast of Central America and has a population of just 380,000. Belize has always experienced migration flows, which tended to be…
The role of language in upholding the rights of internally displaced people (IDPs) is very often overlooked, yet attention to language and communication is central to the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.[1] The Guiding Principles explicitly mention IDPs’ right to…
Given the increasing levels of internal displacement globally and the growing interest in ‘data-driven’ policy and programming, it is especially relevant in this 20th anniversary year to ask whether the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement are reflected in such efforts.…