The provision of protection in emergency response situations has been consistently identified as a major gap in need of addressing. These gaps require a more operational focus of protection and a clear understanding by operational colleagues in the field how to implement using a "protection lens".

In line with IOM's Protection Strategy in Emergency, IOM is increasing staff's awareness and an understanding of "operationalizing" protection. The two objectives include:

• The development of guidelines and policies as well as the integration of lessons learned in humanitarian responses to internally displaced populations
• To build capacity to increase the number of deployable staff trained in protection

Additionally, building on IOM's expertise in land and property rights, IOM is a key partner in the establishment of appropriate mechanisms for addressing land and property rights issues. Such mechanisms are crucial for a durable reconstruction following conflict or the occurrence of a natural disaster. Important gaps in this area, however, remain. They include:

• Absence of systematic lessons learnt efforts
• Limited awareness and knowledge of land and property rights issues amongst key emergency response staff
• Lack of a common land and property rights needs assessment tool