In 2007, approximately 24.5 million people worldwide were internally displaced because they had been forced to leave their homes as a result of conflict. Many millions more have been displaced by natural disasters and development projects. Unlike refugees, they remain within the borders of their own countries and are called internally displaced persons ('IDPs').

IDPs remain entitled to the same rights as other citizens within their own country. However, in reality, the fact of displacement can increase their vulnerability to human rights violations, including rape, exploitation and forced recruitment, and also their needs, including for shelter, replacement documentation and restitution of property. IDPs may also face administrative, institutional and procedural obstacles to achieving their rights. IDPs who have lost their documentation, for example, may not be able to take part in elections, they may be turned away from hospitals and/or schools.

Responsibility for the protection of IDPs rests primarily with national governments. One step governments can take to meet this responsibility is to develop a legal or policy framework on internal displacement based on the Guiding Principles. Already several countries have done so.

In the event that the national authorities are unable or unwilling to provide such protection, international humanitarian organizations and other appropriate actors have the right, and many would agree they have the responsibility, to protect and assist the internally displaced.

Many national and international non-governmental organizations protect and assist IDPs. From the provision of shelter to monitoring and reporting on the circumstances of their displacement, NGOs play an important role in the protection of IDPs. Regional intergovernmental organizations also play an important role. Several have agreed to promote the application of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement within their member states and have appointed an institutional focal point or Special Rapporteur to monitor the situation of IDPs in their region and. The African Union has started to develop its own regional standards on internal displacement.

At the international level, no single United Nations agency has responsibility for the protection of IDPs. According to the 'cluster approach', adopted in 2005, responsibility for responding to the needs of IDPs is shared among several UN agencies, each of which is designated a specific role in the humanitarian response mechanism. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is responsible for Camp Coordination and Management, Emergency Shelter and Protection for conflict-generated IDPs. Other agencies with cluster lead responsibilities include: World Health Organisation (Health), United Nations Development Programme (Early Recovery) and the United Nations Children's Fund (Nutrition, Water/Sanitation). UNICEF shares the education cluster lead with the Save the Children Alliance.

The Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons ('RSG') represents another important international mechanism. The RSG, is mandated by the former Commission on Human Rights and now by the Human Rights Council to engage in dialogue and advocacy with governments and other actors concerning the rights of IDPs, to strengthen the international response to internal displacement, and to mainstream human rights throughout the UN system.

One of the principal activities of the RSG has been the dissemination and promotion of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. Presented to the Commission on Human Rights in 1998, these restate and compile existing international human rights and humanitarian law relevant to the internally displaced. They also attempt to clarify gray areas and gaps in international instruments with regard to issues of particular relevance to the internally displaced. They also provide a definition of an IDP:

'Internally displaced persons - or IDPs - are defined by the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement as "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.'