International Migration Law Course
11 June 2010
The Guiding Principles on
Internal Displacement
Origins, Concepts and Challenges
Patrick Egloff
Advisor to the Representative of the UN Secretary General
on the Human Rights of IDPs
Overview
• Who is an IDP?
• What is the present situation of internal displacement?
• Do IDPs have rights?
I. Who is an IDP?
“... internally displaced persons are persons or groups of
persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave
their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as
a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict,
situations of generalized violence, violations of human
rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have
not crossed an internationally recognized State border”
II. The Present Situation
Magnitude of the Problem
45
40
35
30
25
IDPs (armed
conflict)
Refugees
20
15
10
5
0
IDPs (other
causes) ???
27 million IDPs in 54 countries (Dec 2009):
• Africa: 11.6 mio
• Americas: 5 mio
• Asia: 4.3 mio
Europe: 2.4 mio
Middle East: 3.4 mio
Figures
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Largest internal displacement situations 2009: Sudan
(4.9 mio), Colombia (3-4 mio), Iraq (2.7 mio), DRC
(1.9 mio), Somalia (1.5 mio), Pakistan (1.2 mio)
Major new displacement during 2009:
Pakistan, Sudan, DRC, Philippines, Somalia
Major return movements during 2009:
Pakistan, DRC, Uganda, Sudan, Kenya
© Norwegian Refugee Council
IDPs have special needs ...
Problems usually not faced by those who remain in their
homes:
 Lack of shelter and problems related to camps
 Loss of property and access to livelihoods
 Discrimination because of being displaced
 Lack of identity cards
 Lack of access to services
 Lack of political rights
 Restitution of/compensation for lost property
 Problems of return and integration
... and are especially vulnerable
IDPs run a higher risk than those remaining at home:
to have their children forcibly recruited
 to become victims of gender-based violence
 to become separated from family members
 to be excluded from education
 to be without a job
 to be excluded from political participation.
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III. The Rights of IDPs: The Guiding
Principles on Internal Displacement
1992: Creation of the Mandate of the Representative of the UN
Secretary General on Internal Displacement
1994: Request to elaborate an “appropriate normative
framework”
1998: Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement
2005: World Summit: Recognition as “important international
framework for the protection” of IDPs
The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement
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Translated into more than 40 languages
More than 10 countries incorporated them into national
legislations or policies
Endorsed at the regional level
Convention of the African Union on Protection
and Assistance to IDPs
Conceptual ideas
1.
Although internally displaced persons have departed
from their homes, unlike refugees they have not left
the country whose citizens they normally are:
 They can invoke all human rights and IHL
guarantees available to the citizens of that country.
 Applicability of refugee law is not possible.
2.
3.
4.
Internally displaced person experience a very special
factual situation and, therefore, have specific needs.
The GPs restate in more detail those legal provisions
which respond to the specific needs of IDPs and make
explicit guarantees protecting IDPS that are inherent in
IHL and IHRL.
Not a binding instrument but a highly authoritative
document.
Content
Addresses all phases of displacement
 Section I: General principles (1-4)
 Section II: Protection from Displacement (5-9)
 Section III: Protection during Displacement (10-23)
 Section IV: Humanitarian Assistance (24-27)
 Section V: Post-Displacement Phase (28-30)
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General Principles
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IDP definition
Principle of equality before the law
Principle of non-discrimination
Primary responsibility of the national authorities
Prevention from displacement
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Prohibition of arbitrary displacement
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Based on policies of apartheid or ethnic cleansing
In situations of armed conflict, unless the security of
civilians or imperative military reasons so demand
In cases of large-scale development projects not justified
by compelling public interest
In case of disasters unless the safety of persons requires
their evacuation
Four groups of relevant rights
1. Rights related to physical security and integrity (e.g.,
rights to life and to be free of torture, assault, rape, etc);
2. Basic rights related to basic necessities of life (e.g., the
rights to food, potable water, basic health, shelter);
3. Rights related to other economic, social and cultural
protection needs (e.g., the rights to work, receive
restitution or compensation for lost property, and
education); and
4. Rights related to other civil and political protection
needs (e.g., the rights personal documentation, political
participation, access to courts, and freedom of movement).
Group 1: Right to physical security and integrity
Right to life
Right to dignity
and integrity
Principle 10
Art. 6 CCPR, common Art. 3
Geneva Conventions
Principle 11
Art. 7 and 8 CCPR, common
Art. 3 Geneva Conventions
Protection against
Principles 12
arbitrary deprivaArt. 9 CCPR
and 14(2)
tion of liberty
Right to seek
Art. 12 CCPR
safety / protection Principle 15
Art. 3 CAT, Art. 7 CCPR
against return
Group 2: Right to basic necessities
Right to food
and water
Principle 18
Art. 11 CESCR
Right to shelter
Principle 18
Art. 11 CESCR
Right to clothing Principle 18
Art. 11 CESCR
Right to basic
health services
Art. 12 CESCR
Principle 19
Group 3: Other social, economic and cultural rights
Right to
education
Principle 23
Art. 13 CESCR, 28
CRC, 4(3)(a) APII
Property related
Principle 21
rights
17 UDHR, regional
Conventions, IHL
Right to work
Principle 22(2)(b) Art. 6 and 7 CESCR
Some aspects of
Principle 19
right to health
Art. 12 CESCR
Group 4: Other Civil and Political Rights
Right to
documentation
Freedom of
movement
Principle 22
Art. 6 UDHR, art. 16
CCPR
Principle 14
Art. 13 UDHR, art. 12
CCPR
Additional information
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Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement:
www.brookings.edu/idp
IDMC/NRC:
www.internal-displacement.org
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/idp/index.htm
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees:
www.unhcr.org