Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement

By the end of 2021, the total number of people internally displaced due to conflict, violence and disasters reached a record high: 59 million. More than 19 million were newly displaced over the course of the year. 

On 17 April 1998, the Commission on Human Rights adopted the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. They remain the most widely recognized standard to prevent, respond to and resolve internal displacement. The unprecedented volume and duration of internal displacement today reminds us that much more work needs to be done.  

The GP20 Plan of Action, launched on the 20th Anniversary of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement in 2018, urges the humanitarian and international community to do more to prevent the conditions that lead to displacement as well as advancing protection and solutions for internally displaced persons (IDPs) 

It is an ongoing opportunity to empower and amplify the voices of IDPs, involve displaced communities in the responses and solutions that affect them, strengthen partnerships and operational responses and promote a stronger political agenda on internal displacement.