GPC News

Four people living in internal displacement tell us what they need to get their lives back on track

Following a final round of feedback after its launch on 17 April 2018 on the 20th anniversary of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, the GP20 Plan of Action for Advancing Prevention, Protection and Solutions for Internally Displaced People 2018-2020 has been finalized. Stakeholders are called to rally around the goal and objectives in the GP20 Plan of Action and step up action on prevention, protection and solutions for internally displaced people during 2018-2020.

Report Of A Global Protection Cluster Round-Table

The people of South Sudan have suffered intense and protracted conflict. The beginning of 2017 saw the declaration of famine for hundreds of thousands of people in parts of Unity States (Leer and Mayendit counties) in the northern-central part of South Sudan. In 2018, men, women, girls, and boys continue to be caught in the cross fire, directly attacked, forcibly recruited, and raped. As a result around one in every three South Sudanese have fled their homes. The number of people uprooted since the start of the conflict in 2013 has reached more than 4 million in 2018, including 1.9 million internally displaced people (IDPs). And more than 2 million people have departed to neighbouring countries.

Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock, Briefing to the Security Council on Armed Conflict and Hunger

The Whole of Syria Protection Sector calls for immediate and urgent action to protect hundreds of thousands of civilians, half of whom are believed to be children, living under siege and facing enormous security threats and life-threatening hardships in East Ghouta. Despite the unanimous adoption of Resolution No. 2401 by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on 24 February 2018, calling for a 30-day cessation of hostilities, the situation for the civilian population in East Ghouta is worsening by the day.

The 20th anniversary of the Guiding Principles is a unique opportunity for us to join our efforts worldwide to re-invigorate national-level action to enhance IDP protection, and to work more concertedly with a broad range of stakeholders on prevention and solutions.

The GPC Protection Mainstreaming Toolkit is launched - an operational tool for protection and non-protection actors.

We now have an Arabic Glossary of Humanitarian terms!

On 20th November, the GPC held a Somalia Country Briefing at UNHCR Headquarters to reflect on the development of a comprehensive and system-wide HCT Strategy for the country.

This evaluation focuses on the performance of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as Cluster Lead Agency (CLA) for the Global Protection Cluster (GPC) and Field Protection Clusters (FPCs) between 2014 and 2017.

What is the role of Mine Action organisations in addressing land rights issues as part of their response to humanitarian emergencies and support to sustainable development?

Quick guidance on Humanitarian Response Planning

Ever wondered how humanitarian mine action activities bring mine action organizations in direct contact with land right issues?

Violence has recently erupted throughout the five provinces that make up the Greater Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Over the past year, approximately 1.4 million people have fled their homes due to intercommunal fighting aggravated by government forces.

With its newly launched in-focus series, the GPC continues to analyze underlying causes perpetuating the food and cholera crisis in the four countries Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen.

Urban areas are now home to over half the global population as well as two thirds of the world’s refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs). Increasingly, cities and peri-urban areas have become the forefront of humanitarian response, diverting from the traditional paradigm of relief provision in rural and camp settings.

In 2017, the Whole of Syria (“WOS”) protection sector proposed a shift from a “mainstreaming” approach to a strategy that promotes and supports “Do No Harm” programming across the response, and increases opportunities for a multi-sectoral approach to addressing protection threats and risks experienced by affected communities.

The GBV AoR Coordination Team has developed several strategic documents that define the GBV AoR scope and strategic priorities for the next months. In this regard, an international consultant is being sought to capitalize and build on existing GBV-related documents and strategy documents from other IASC clusters that reflect good practices.

UNHCR seeks a maternity cover (August 2017 - September 2018) for its Cash and Protection Advisor. The Cash and Protection Advisor, part of the Protection Management Service in the Division of International Protection, will further mainstream cash-based interventions (CBIs) in protection programming and services, and help ensure that protection principles are embedded in all of UNHCR's CBIs.

The ongoing conflict in Yemen, compounded with cholera and pockets of famine, continues to increase the protection needs of an already vulnerable population.

Home-based; Duration: 15th September – 15th November 2017 Contract Type: Consultancy

In June we welcomed field protection cluster coordinators and co-facilitators, partners and donors to the GPC Annual Field Protection Cluster Retreat 2017 to discuss pertinent protection issues.

The Protection and Accountability to Affected Populations in the HRP (EDG Preliminary Guidance Note) is now available in Russian and Ukrainian.

Alarming protection concerns and human rights violations of affected populations, including IDP’s and host communities have been repeatedly and increasingly reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo, entailing a high risk of transformation of the conflict into an inter-community conflict.

This manual provides an overview of protection in the context of WFP’s operations and seeks to guide staff to better identify and respond to protection risks related to WFP programmes.

Ce document s’appuie sur un exercice de cartographie que l’Équipe de travail sur les lois et les politiques du Cluster Global de Protection a mené en 2015.

The Norwegian Refugee Council has issued three new publications on restitution in Myanmar thereby reflecting on how restitution has been addressed thus far.

The Global Protection Cluster (GPC) Housing, Land and Property (HLP) Area of Responsibility (AoR) organised a one-day global HLP event that took place in Geneva on 15 December 2016.

The Women’s Refugee Commission has released a new publication entitled Vulnerability- and resilience-based approaches in response to the Syrian crisis: Implications for women, children, and youth with disabilities.

This overview will also provide examples of best practice and useful ideas for other Protection Clusters, which will be shared by the GPC.

In a webinar organized by InterAction, Simon Russell, the newly appointed Global Protection Cluster (GPC) Coordinator gave his perspective on the volume and complexity of protection challenges around the world today.

Humanitarian Coordinators (HCs) and Humanitarian Country Teams (HCTs) are responsible for ensuring that protection is central to humanitarian action.

The Global Protection Cluster calls for immediate action to protect people under intensified aerial bombardment over the last week in East Aleppo and recalls that all parties to the conflict have obligations to protect civilians under International Humanitarian Law, Human Rights Law and Criminal Law.

Acts of violence affecting the delivery of aid are frequent in humanitarian settings, such as recently in South Sudan, Syria, Yemen or Afghanistan.

Can innovation practices enhance GPC’s capacities in guiding, supporting and implementing protection programming?

This Note sets out practical steps that Humanitarian Coordinators (HCs) and Humanitarian Country Teams (HCTs) can take to ensure that protection is at the centre of humanitarian response.

In order for the GPC to achieve its strategic objectives it is imperative to equip the GPC Operations Cell with skilled human resources while prioritization of field support related activities is only possible with additional resources.

This paper is based on a mapping exercise that the Global Protection Cluster (GPC)’s Task Team on Law and Policy conducted in 2015.

The aim of this guidance is to assist humanitarian Coordinators (HCs) and HCTs to develop a comprehensive and humanitarian system-wide protection strategy in a manner that is light and enhances the effectiveness and performance of country-level humanitarian responses.

Renewed fighting broke out on Friday, 8 July. Since then, hundreds of people have been killed, rapes have been reported and tens of thousands of people have sought safety within or near UN bases across the country – joining the thousands already present from previous rounds of fighting.

A group of experts met at Georgetown University on June 9, 2016 to discuss progress since August 2015 in improving responses to the situation of internally displaced persons (IDPs).

A new internship position has opened with the Global Protection Cluster (GPC) Operations Cell.

The present report provides an account of the activities undertaken by the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons.

An opportunity to explore the humanitarian community’s commitment to place protection of internally displaced persons and others affected by crisis at the heart of humanitarian action.

The IASC Emergency Directors Group has developed a preliminary guidance note on Protection and Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) in the Humanitarian Programme Cycle (HPC).

The Communication Package on Protection will be launched on Tuesday, 22 March at UNHCR MBT 04 at 5 p.m. (GVA).

The Global Protection Cluster convened a meeting at the offices of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva on the Report of the UN Secretary-General for the World Humanitarian Summit (SG Report). The meeting was attended in person by Permanent Missions, UN Agencies, international organisations and non-government organisations and on-line from Bogota, Kabul, Oxford and Washington DC.

Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien in this video message welcomes the new GPC Strategic Framework which closely aligns with priorities emerging from the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS).

Dr. Chaloka Beyani, Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Persons, in his message outlines the three key goals of the Global Protection Cluster Strategic Framework 2016-19.

Volker Turk, Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, welcomes the launch of the GPC Strategic Framework.

In countries affected by the Zika virus where there are refugees, asylum-seekers and returnees governments should aim to ensure that such persons have equal access to essential health care on the same basis as nationals.