Internally displaced persons (IDPs) represent the most compelling crises facing the international humanitarian aid community today. Each year the number of countries reporting internal displacement increases; Recent years have witnessed a shift from large-scale refugee movements to increased internal displacement.2 The enormity of the ever-growing IDP problem exceeds the human and financial resources available to alleviate suffering, which – as is the case with refugees – women and children bear the brunt. A gender perspective—appreciating the fundamental differences between men's and women's roles in society—is not difficult to apply if one approaches the issue from the basic principles of human rights determined by a person's gender.
Awareness of the plight of refugee women and their right to protection began to emerge in the 1980s as a result of the work of numerous individuals and advocacy organizations. Since then, policies and guidelines have been developed, gender positions established in all agencies of UN and training programs. adopted to address gender and protection concerns.4 The issue of refugee women's protection has not been resolved at all; it remains an ongoing struggle, but at least the mechanisms for i m p r o v i n g the situation are in place. 8 Dissemination of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and other relevant international human rights and gender instruments to all parties interacting with internally displaced persons; Although the exact number is unknown, experts estimate that the number of internally displaced people is around 30 million people, with spouses and children accounting for around 80 percent.6 Women's rights, including access to basic services – food , water, shelter and health care—are often ignored.
The Harvard model does not provide an analytical framework for looking at the political and ideological dimensions of women's development. The analysis is then limited to a technical perspective without any theoretical capacity to analyze women's development at the level of inequality, discrimination and oppression. UNICEF has focused its interest on the process of empowerment by which women can overcome discrimination in the provision of resources. W E E F differs from other frameworks in its bottom-up approach to improving women's lives.
Other frameworks support "top-down" perspectives in which the problems of women are identified by outsiders (researchers and field workers). W E E F does not promote the treatment of women as the passive beneficiaries of projects. P O P is designed to help refugee workers improve participation in and access to programs by providing a framework for analyzing the socio-cultural and economic factors in a refugee environment that may influence the success of planned activities. Beneficiary participation is an important factor in the success of relief operations and must include women and children alongside men.
No one stood up for women's rights, as they have no designated agency from which to seek protection in cases of rape and other violent acts." Interviewees in the Burundi camps stated that in order to survive they "had to to be good. to the soldiers guarding the camp." Sadly, the exchange of sex for protection or food is a common occurrence among internally displaced women who do not need international supervision and protection.
Effects of Displacement on Women
- Changing gender roles
- Gender violence
- Breakup of families
- Loss of Social and Cultural Ties
It is clear that specific guidance on gender-based violence, protection and participation issues for displaced women and girls will be extremely useful for all agencies working with IDPs. Conflict situations greatly increase the violence inflicted on them; at no other time are women and girls more vulnerable. 1 4 Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, General Assembly, A/RES/39/46 10 December 1984 (Torture Convention).
In general, the greater the mobility of displaced women, the greater their vulnerability. Therefore, programs for displaced women should pay special attention to situations where displaced persons are highly mobile. Displaced women in the former South Yugoslavia reported feeling unwelcome in the areas they fled to and experiencing discrimination from local people.1 8 Disruption of community unity increases women's and children's vulnerability and weakens their coping mechanisms. Internally displaced women continue to need protection against further displacement and abuse even after they return home.
Protection for internally displaced women
Shelter
Following Sue E l l i s and Sultan Barakat, who studied the long-term effects of 'temporary' accommodation on displaced persons in Croatia, relief efforts focus on. As short-term housing slips into long-term and even permanent solutions, the adverse psychological and physical effects worsen. This paper recommends that housing providers use participatory approaches and involve women in all housing planning activities. W hen women are part of the decision-making process, housing design, location and construction better suit their needs.
They were told that such assistance was not the responsibility of the agencies, although the girls were in desperate need of medical care, food, housing and skills training. International attention has been focused on demobilizing boy soldiers, but little attention has been paid to girls' rights. 34;From Relief to Development The Long-term Effects of 'Temporary' Accommodation on Refugees and Displaced Persons in the Republic of Croatia," Disasters V20N2. 34;Comparative Trends in Forcedly Displaced IDPs and Refugees in Internally Displaced Persons A Global Study edited by Janie Hampton.
Right to Food
Under C E D A W, there are no immediate remedies for women whose rights are violated, as there are no opportunities for individual petitions.
Right to Health Care
Education, skills training, and economic opportunity
For example, in the Rwandan refugee camps in Tanzania there were so many women without men that specially marked tents were erected and placed in a designated "safe" area. During the short period when the system was used, the number of sexual assaults. increased significantly.2 8 Bright orange tents acted as beacons indicating unaccompanied women. communities to protect their rights and cope with their plight.
Participation can be defined as the active and meaningful involvement of people at different levels in the decision-making process for setting social goals and allocating resources to achieve them, and in the voluntary implementation of the resulting programs and projects. 34;In Search of Hope The Plight of Displaced Colombians", in The Forsaken People Case Studies of the Internally Displaced, edited by Roberta Cohen and Francis Deng, 1998. The UN should establish a coordinating body to assist displaced persons and ensuring that gender and protection issues are a priority Internally displaced persons – especially women and children – will continue to be subject to human rights violations until their protection is a priority at the highest UN level.
In special cases, for example in Afghanistan, O C H A cooperates with U N D P to send a gender advisor into the field. U N I C E F : U N I C E F is active in a number of internally displaced situations, in line with its mandate to improve the lives of women and children by providing services in the areas of health care, education, nutrition and sanitation. U N H C R : The U N H C R has assumed responsibility for IDPs in certain situations. Limitation in its mandate, however, as financial constraints, personnel and other constraints limit UN H C R's ability to respond to IDP needs in all situations Clear guidelines from headquarters IDP issues are needed in the field *o that solutions can be found quickly.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: UN H C H R can play a greater role in protecting the internally displaced, but is limited by operational and financial constraints. o f all human rights. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) focuses on a wide range of issues dealing with migration, spanning the gap between refugees and IDPs.3 5 The Constitution of IOM specifically refers to activities on behalf of IDPs. I O M's assistance to states is in the form of technical cooperation for building the capacity of states to deal with the problem of internal displacement.
34; Cuny, Fred, "Assistance in the Post-Cold War Era," in Humamtanamsm Across Borders Sustaining Civilians in Times of War, uredila Thomas G Weiss in Larry Minear Boulder Lynne Rienner Publishers 1993.
This book is a collection of papers presented at the Norwegian Refugee Council Conference on Internally Displaced Persons in November 1997. This report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Internally Displaced Persons documents his trip to Colombia in 1994. This report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Internally Displaced Persons provides a thorough the history of the conflict in Mozambique and addresses the process of rehabilitation and return.
This annual report from the Secretary-General's Representative for Internally Displaced Persons reviews his own progress and that of the United Nations in this area at this stage of his mandate. Deng, Francis ML Report of the Representative of the Secretary-General for Internally Displaced Persons - 1996. In this Annual Report of the Representative of the Secretary-General for Internally Displaced Persons, Mr.
The protection gap in the international protection of internally displaced persons: the case of Rwanda. This short fact sheet describes some of the programs and activities Oxfam UK is working with internally displaced people and refugees in Afghanistan. This short fact sheet describes some of the programs and activities Oxfam UK is working with internally displaced people in Azerbaijan.
This short fact sheet describes some of the programs and activities Oxfam UK is working on in internally displaced people and refugee camps in the Sudan. Program issues related to internally displaced persons: Institutional arrangements for the protection and assistance of the internally displaced persons. The purpose of the guidelines is to address the specific needs of internally displaced persons worldwide by identifying rights and guarantees relevant to their protection.
The principles provide guidance for: the Representative of the Secretary-General for Internally Displaced Persons to obtain his mandate; The delegation sought to assess the needs of countries as they move towards the repatriation and return of refugees and internally displaced persons. 2 Internally displaced persons have the right to seek and receive protection and humanitarian assistance from these authorities.
Internally displaced persons must be protected against discriminatory arrest and detention as a result of their displacement. Internally displaced persons should have the right to access the graves of their deceased relatives.
