New Web site Offers Instant Access to International Legal Documents on Internally Displaced Persons
Washington, D.C., 29 February 2008— As a result of armed conflict and human rights violations, more than 25 million people in 50 countries around the world have been forcibly uprooted from their own homes and remain within their own countries with limited, if any, access to protection and assistance. Responsibility for the protection of internally displaced persons (IDPs) rests primarily with national governments. To meet this responsibility, some governments have developed legal and policy frameworks on internal displacement based on the United Nations' Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. To assist policy makers and legal advocates in the development of such national frameworks, a new online database launched today provides instant access to official documents, including recommendations of United Nations treaty-monitoring bodies, reports of UN charter bodies, and UN General Assembly resolutions about the rights of these IDPs.
“By facilitating the application of the Guiding Principles and the rights which they contain, this website will contribute to strengthening the protection of IDPs as well as the long-term development of the customary international law on internal displacement,” observed Walter Kälin, Representative of the UN Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, “and that is why I requested the creation of this great resource.”
“This website will enable government officials and all those concerned with the protection and assistance of IDPs to establish the best possible legal and policy frameworks for their countries based on the Guiding Principles," said Susan F. Martin, director of Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of International Migration (ISIM). "States with significant internal displacement now have a tool to help them establish meaningful systems of protection and assistance for their displaced citizens.”
A joint effort of ISIM and the Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement, the Global Database on the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (http://www.idpguidingprinciples.org/) is a valuable resource for scholars, policymakers, legislators, and humanitarian activists to research, develop, monitor and enforce implementation of IDP policies. The website is available in English, French and Spanish.
Based on the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, the website includes basic information about internal displacement, and a searchable legal database on the UN Guiding Principles. Users can search by specific principles, individual countries, global institutions, reference type, or particular norms described by the Guiding Principles. Users can also search for legal documents by title, date or keyword. Documents are organized according to those referring to the Guiding Principles, documents referring to the rights of the internally displaced, and secondary sources on the Guiding Principles.
About the Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement
The Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement monitors displacement problems worldwide, promotes the dissemination and application of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, works with governments, regional bodies, international organizations and civil society to create more effective policies and institutional arrangements for IDPs, convenes international seminars on internal displacement, and publishes major studies, articles and reports. For more information about the Brookings-Bern Project please visit the Project's homepage.
About the Institute for the Study of International Migration
The Institute for the Study of International Migration (ISIM), founded in 1998, is part of Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and is affiliated with Georgetown’s Law Center. ISIM focuses on all aspects of international migration, conducting research and hosting symposia on U.S. immigration, refugee law and policies as well as migration issues affecting other countries. In addition, ISIM offers a graduate level certificate, preparing students to work in international organizations, government and private agencies specializing in emergency relief, human rights and humanitarian activities. For more information about ISIM please visit: http://isim.georgetown.edu.
About Georgetown University
Georgetown University is the oldest Catholic and Jesuit university in America, founded in 1789 by Archbishop John Carroll. Georgetown today is a major student-centered, international, research university offering respected undergraduate, graduate and professional programs on its three campuses in Washington, DC. For more information about Georgetown University, visit www.georgetown.edu.