A/HRC/14/44 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ B. Internally displaced persons 19. The earthquake and the subsequent humanitarian crisis had a powerful impact not only on the towns directly affected but also on the entire country, for in the hours and days following the event hundreds of thousands of Haitians left the ruins of their homes to go to stay with parents or other family members or with friends in other towns, which thus experienced a massive influx of displaced persons. 20. Several hundred thousand displaced persons are currently living in precarious conditions, and, at the time of writing, the security of the camps and other installations are exposed to threats, especially because of the arrival of the rains and the menace of the cyclones which strike Haiti at that time of year. In order to make these facilities secure or as a safety precaution tens of thousands of persons were to be evacuated, and the Representative of the Secretary-General on the human rights of internally displaced persons6 was requested to offer his expertise and advice to MINUSTAH. His recommendations ought also to constitute a valuable tool for the armed forces conducting this evacuation exercise. 21. What matters is not the physical distance but the fact that the persons concerned have absolutely no resources and are rendered even more vulnerable by a parlous economic situation and the destruction of their family and community social relationships, circumstances which place their rights under even greater threat. The persons and families who moved from Pétionville to makeshift shelters at Champs de Mars or Carrefour Feuilles are displaced persons indeed. 22. The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (“the Guiding Principles”) adopted in 1998 (E/CN.4/1998/53/Add.2) constitute a unique international regulatory framework establishing the right to be protected against arbitrary displacement and an institutional framework for dealing with displaced persons and reinforcing the measures for their protection, reintegration and rehabilitation. The problem of internal displacement calls for a global, systematic and effective response based on an approach which gives priority to the effective exercise of their fundamental rights by the displaced persons themselves. 23. The Guiding Principles should be widely publicized and discussed, for the benefit of military personnel in particular, and they should be applied both by the Haitian authorities and by the international organizations, with special care being taken to ensuring that the eventual relocation of displaced persons living in temporary camps should be effected on a voluntary basis, except in cases of evacuation for security or personal safety reasons. Similarly, the relocation of persons with disabilities or persons who lost limbs during the earthquake must be effected in compliance with the health requirements dictated by their physical or mental condition. 24. Solving the problem of internal displacement will take time and will mean, in particular in the discussions on reconstruction, that the treatment of beneficiaries must be based on a determination of their needs, particularly in the case of those who wish to return to their places of habitual residence.7 6 Among other things, on 8 March 2010 Walter Kälin organized on the fringes of the Human Rights Council an informal meeting with the independent expert to draw the international community’s attention to the risks to which people displaced in Haiti during this period were exposed. 7 At the time of drafting this report comments were made and addressed to the independent expert concerning the failure to consult the displaced persons; this is particularly true in the case of persons suffering disabilities or paraplegic or hemiplegic paralysis or who lost limbs as a result of the earthquake. The independent expert would like to verify these allegations during his next visit. GE.10-13204 (EXT) 7