Operational Guidelines for UNHCR’s Engagement in Situations of Internal Displacement

Abstract

1 February 2016 ... Annex: UNHCR Interventions in Situations of Internal Displacement (the “IDP Footprint”) This document provides guidance on UNHCR’s engagement in situations of internal displacement. As a complement to existing policy, it clarifies UNHCR’s responsibilities and decision-making within the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) cluster approach. Importantly, it also provides parameters for UNHCR’s operational engagement, including principles for engagement and interventions to consider in support of UNHCR’s leadership of the clusters for protection, shelter and camp coordination and camp management (CCCM) in a coordinated response. These Operational Guidelines establish institutional standards and parameters for UNHCR’s engagement (or expected engagement) in a coordinated response to internal displacement. They apply to UNHCR Representatives and their teams as well as other staff members at all levels involved in the planning, design and implementation of operations in situations of internal displacement, as well those supporting these operations through the Regional Bureaux and Divisions and Services at Headquarters. These Operational Guidelines complement UNHCR’s existing policy and guidance on internally displaced persons (IDPs) as well as those developed by the IASC following the Humanitarian Reform in 2005 and the Transformative Agenda in 2011.1