Protection

Background

The concept of protection encompasses all activities aimed at obtaining full respect for the rights of the individual in accordance with the letter and the spirit of the relevant bodies of law (i.e., human rights, humanitarian and refugee law). In other words, protection refers to any activity that aims at creating an environment conducive to respect for human beings, preventing and/or alleviating the immediate effects of a specific pattern of abuse, and restoring dignified conditions of life through reparation, restitution and rehabilitation. Protection, consequently, covers a wide range of activities that are aimed at ensuring respect for the rights of all individuals, regardless of their age, gender or social, ethnic, national, religious or other background. This requires a collaborative and coordinated response by various national and international actors with diverse mandates, expertise and experience.

Established in 2005 as part of the humanitarian reform process, the global Protection Cluster Working Group (PCWG) is the main forum at the global level for the overall coordination of protection activities in humanitarian action. The PCWG includes UN human rights, humanitarian and development agencies as well as non-governmental and other international organizations active in protection. Please consult the PCWG for more information.

At the country level, the UN Country Team, under the leadership of the Humanitarian Coordinator or the Resident Coordinator and in consultation with relevant partners, decides what coordination structures are put in place at the country level, including whether the cluster approach is adopted in order to strengthen the collaborative response. For further information please consult the protection coordination at the country level webpage.

Featured Documents

IDMC & OCHA

• Guidance on Profiling Internally Displaced Persons

The Brookings Institute

• When Displacement Ends - A Framework for Durable Solutions
• Handbook for Applying the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement
• Human Rights and Natural Disasters. IASC Operational Guidelines and Field Manual on Human Rights in Situations of Natural Disasters

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

• Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement

FAO, IDMC, OCHA, OHCHR, UNHABITAT & UNHCR

• Handbook on Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees and Displaced Persons: Implementing the Pinheiro Principles

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

• Enhancing Protection for Civilians in Armed Conflict and Other Situations of Violence

Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC)

• Protecting Persons Affected by Natural Disasters. IASC Operational Guidelines on Human Rights and Natural Disasters

UN Development Programme (UNDP) & OHCHR

• Checklists for Integrating Human Rights in Natural Disaster Management in the Pacific

Featured Links:

• ProCap Online
• IDMC
• RSG-IDPs
• International Human Rights Bodies
• Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement

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