A/HRC/23/44 situations, camp settings, etc.). The Council expressed “particular concern at the grave problems faced by many displaced women and children, including violence and abuse, sexual and labour exploitation, trafficking in persons, forced recruitment and abduction” (resolution 14/6). Other major human rights concerns include inequitable access to assistance, education, training and livelihoods; poor reproductive health care; and exclusion from decision-making processes. 22. Refugee and IDW often face similar assistance and protection concerns, such as increased risk of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), and could benefit in some instances from analogous gender-sensitive interventions to address these problems.4 However, the diversity within these groups, the particular challenges they may face, and the legal, social and other implications of the very context of their displacement (i.e. internal versus external displacement) must be acknowledged and integrated into responses to their needs. For example, the lower levels of international assistance provided, on average, to IDPs compared to refugees are associated with comparatively poorer reproductive health outcomes for IDW.5 Conversely, as residents or citizens of their country, IDW generally do not face the same type (or extent) of legal and administrative barriers in the exercise of their rights to freedom of movement and to work. B. Taking stock of efforts to protect and assist internally displaced women 1. The evolving framework on gender and internal displacement 23. The past twenty years have witnessed the formulation of a multitude of tools and standards relevant to gender and forced displacement, which increasingly include IDW. While some standards and practices focus on particular issues such as reproductive health 6 and SGBV,7 others tackle gender and displacement in a cross-cutting manner. The Guiding Principles formed the first normative framework to detail a number of specific rights of IDW, including non-discrimination and the right of expectant mothers, mothers of young children, and female heads of household, inter alia, to protection and assistance that “takes into account their special needs”.8 The Guiding Principles identify various forms of violence and exploitation against which IDPs should be protected, including SGBV, underline the right of IDW to access all necessary documents, education and training, and call for the active participation of women in decision-making at all stages of displacement.9 They have informed subsequent instruments and frameworks, which address IDW, such as the Kampala Convention and the Framework on Durable Solutions for Internally Displaced Persons. 4 5 6 7 8 9 8 Chaloka Beyani, “An International Legal Perspective on Refugee and Displaced Women” in Legal Status of Refugee and Internally Displaced Women in Africa, Christopher Mulei et al. (eds.), (UNIFEM/AFWIC, 1996). Dale Buscher, “Refugee Women: Twenty Years On”, Refugee Survey Quarterly, vol. 29, No. 2 (2010), p. 8; UNHCR, Inter-agency global evaluation of reproductive health services for refugees and internally displaced persons (November 2004). Inter-agency Working Group on Reproductive Health in Crises, Inter-agency Field Manual on Reproductive Health in Humanitarian Settings (2010). UNHCR, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons: Guidelines for Prevention and Response (2003); IASC, Guidelines for Gender-based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Settings: Focusing on Prevention of and Response to Sexual Violence in Emergencies (2005). Principle 4, para. 2. Principles 11, para. 2; 19; 20, para. 3; 23.

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