The Guiding Principles on Displacement 10 Years Later

 

A displaced family in Timor Leste returns voluntarily to their home in Dili.[Photo: UN/Martine Perret]

The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (GPs) were developed by a team of international legal experts and presented to the Commission on Human Rights in 1998.

The 30 articles of the GPs tackle the specific vulnerability of internally displaced persons who do not benefit from the protection of international refugee law because they have not crossed international borders.

The GPs maintain that national authorities have the primary duty and responsibility to provide protection and humanitarian assistance to internally displaced persons within their jurisdiction.

They set out the rights and guarantees relevant to the protection of IDPs in all phases of displacement, including prevention of displacement, protection during displacement, and the rights to long term solutions, including resettlement elsewhere in the country or local integration at the place they were displaced to.

The GPs provide detailed guidance on the rights of IDPs during each of these phases, including the guarantee of safe access to essential food and potable water, basic shelter and housing, appropriate clothing, and essential medical services and sanitation.

Although not legally binding, the GPs reflect human rights guarantees that already exist in international human rights and humanitarian law that is legally binding on states.  The GPs were intended to highlight as a practical framework, the protections afforded to IDPs to assist governments, regional organizations and other relevant actors in ensuring an appropriate response to their situations. 

Click here to read the Guiding Principles.

 

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