A/HRC/17/42 combination of aid and protection based on respect for humanitarian principles, must be constantly called to mind and defended by humanitarian workers themselves. The Independent Expert saw to what extent the importance of adopting a rights-based approach had still not been fully understood by all stakeholders, and especially by humanitarian workers. The role of human rights in the various phases of humanitarian work should therefore be reasserted and strengthened. 15. In any crisis situation, violations of human rights take place and threats are very real, or are even accentuated, especially for people with special needs, such as internally displaced persons, women, children, older persons and persons with disabilities. Consequently, in the various phases of emergencies and rehabilitation and development processes, a rights-based approach must be promoted and followed. In applying that approach, each victim of a crisis requiring a humanitarian response must be seen as the holder of rights that the State must guarantee, and not merely as the recipient of humanitarian assistance. The Independent Expert recommends that specific rights-based training be provided, in particular to humanitarian aid workers. A. Internally displaced persons 16. The Independent Expert has visited several official and unofficial camps on his various missions and has in some cases carried out repeat visits in order to assess developments over time and gauge the situation inside the camps. According to figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the number of internally displaced persons fell from 1.3 million to 825,000 between January 2010 and January 2011. However, those figures have been challenged by several specialists, who have cast doubt on the methodology used to count displaced persons and claim that some people are counted several times, while others are not counted at all. Regardless of what the true figure may be, the fact remains that living conditions in many of the unofficial camps are poor. 17. The inhabitants of official camps set up by the international community appear determined to stay there for the long term, judging by the tents and shelters surrounded by gardens, bushes or trees. Almost everyone asked expressed the desire to remain in the camps rather than return to where they had lived before. Every day, more families come to the area around the camps in order to use the camp facilities or even just to get running water, or in the hope of one day receiving a larger tent or temporary shelter. The Independent Expert was struck by the progressive transformation of the official camps into informal settlements and shanty towns, at times overwhelmed by a teeming population for which available services, initially intended for a limited number of inhabitants, are wholly inadequate. Although the camps were an appropriate response to an emergency situation, one can only wonder whether they have now contributed to the emergence of a new kind of social organization that might create more problems than it solves. 18. In several camps there is a frequent rotation of camp managers. Some international organizations are withdrawing progressively from the camps, thus depriving the inhabitants and camp committees of a steady point of contact. As committees subsequently fail to obtain responses to the demands of camp inhabitants, they lose credibility, which in turn fuels rivalries and disputes. as living free from fear. Its primary purpose, therefore, is to protect individuals from threats such as armed conflict, arbitrary treatment, forced displacement and political and criminal violence. In broader terms, it includes freedom from need. That approach aims, in particular, at protecting individuals from poverty, famine, illness and environmental disasters. GE.11-12426 5