International and Regional Instruments

In 1992, the Secretary General of the United Nations appointed the first Representative on Internally Displaced Persons, Francis M. Deng who was requested by the Commission on Human Rights to prepare the first comprehensive study of international standards on internal displacement (E/CN.4/1993/35). After further studies on the legal framework to protect the internally displaced persons, Francis Deng concluded that while the existing normative framework provided a certain level of protection, some gaps remained. This is how, in 1998, with the encouragement of the Commission of Human Rights and the General Assembly, he was requested to develop with the help of a team of international legal scholars chaired by Walter Kälin, to identify the relevant existing laws and address these gaps. The resulting “Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement” were presented to the Commission on Human Rights in April 1998 (E/CN.4/1998/53/Add.2). While they are non-binding, the Commission has expressed its appreciation of the Guiding Principles and in 2005, more than 190 States adopted the World Summit Outcome which recognised the Guiding Principles as “an important international framework for the protection of internally displaced persons and resolve to take effective measures to increase the protection of internally displaced persons” (A/RES/60/1).

• The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (2015)
• The Nansen Conference. Climate Change and Displacement in the 21st Century (The Nansen Principles) (2011); URL: http://www.unhcr.org/4ea969729.pdf
• IASC Framework on Durable Solutions for Internally Displaced Persons (2010); URL: http://www.unhcr.org/50f94cd49.pdf
• The Pinheiro Principles: United Nations Principles on Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees and Displaced Persons (2005); URL: http://www.unhcr.org/protection/idps/50f94d849/principles-housing-property-restitution-refugees-displaced-persons-pinheiro.html “

• The African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention) (adoption in 2009 and entry into force in 2012); URL: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4ae572d82.html 
• The Pact on Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region  – Protocol on the Protection and Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons (2006); URL: http://www.refworld.org/pdfid/52384fe44.pdf

Africa

• The Decision on the Situation of Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons in Africa,  African Union (2010); URL: https://au.int/sites/default/files/decisions/9632-council_en_25_29_january_2010_executive_council_sixteenth_ordinary_session.pdf

 Americas

• The San José Declaration on Refugees and Displaced Persons (1994); URL: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4a54bc3fd.html
• The Brazil Declaration (2014); URL: http://www.acnur.org/fileadmin/Documentos/BDL/2014/9865.pdf?file=fileadmin/Documentos/BDL/2014/9865
• The San José Action Statement (2016); URL: http://www.refworld.org/country,,UNHCR,,HND,,57a8a4854,0.html

Europe

• The Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1631, Internal Displacement in Europe, Council of Europe (2003); URL: http://www.assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-XML2HTML-en.asp?fileid=17163&lang=en
• The Lisbon Document, OSCE (1996)
• The Treaty on Support to Refugees and Forced Migrants, CIS (1993); URL: http://www.delhihighcourt.nic.in/library/articles/may/CIS%20treaty%20on%20support%20to%20refugees%20and%20forced%20migrants(1993).pdf