A/HRC/16/43 6. The mandate is committed to consolidating the gains made to date, so that the mainstreaming of the human rights of internally displaced persons, capacity building, and sustained engagement with States and regional or subregional organizations remain a priority. At the same time the mandate will also look forward towards emerging issues and remaining gaps, so as to continue improving our response to internal displacement and to ensuring that, as part of that effort, we are also ensuring the protection of the rights of internally displaced persons. Challenges continue to exist in this regard, including, inter alia, how to improve our response to situations where internally displaced persons reside outside of camp settings, and how to better address the human rights of internally displaced women as well as communities affected by climate change and natural disasters. These are some of the key issues which the Special Rapporteur has prioritized for the initial phase of his mandate, and on which he will continue to work closely with all counterparts. II. Achievements and activities of the mandate A. Strengthening the normative framework on the basis of the Guiding Principles 1. Operational Guidelines on Human Rights in Situations of Natural Disasters (revised) 7. In Special Rapporteur is pleased to inform that the revised Operational Guidelines on the Protection of Persons in Situations of Natural Disasters were formally endorsed by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) in October 2010. This document is also presented to this Council as an addendum to this report. 8. These new Operational Guidelines were developed in order to both merge and improve the Guidelines developed by the Representative in 2006, and the accompanying manual developed in 2008.1 Importantly, the Operational Guidelines now draw on and reflect not only the feedback provided by humanitarian workers working in situations of natural disasters but also input and experiences gathered at a series of workshops organized in different parts of the world in cooperation with the Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement and different Inter-Agency Standing Committee members, and in which some 300 Government officials, humanitarian and development actors, members of security forces and fire brigades participated. 9. The Special Rapporteur believes that the revised Operational Guidelines respond to a need for more concrete guidance on the application of specific human rights to situations of natural disaster. The aim of the Guidelines is to assist Governments, as well as international and non-government humanitarian organizations to ensure that disaster relief and recovery efforts are conducted within a framework that protects and furthers the human rights of affected persons. This includes, inter alia, ensuring that human rights principles are integrated into disaster response from the earliest stages, and that measures are taken to ensure that affected persons are consulted and participate in relevant processes. On this basis, the Guidelines provide guidance on how to ensure the protection of four sets of rights in situations of natural disasters, including: rights related to protection of life and physical security; rights related to the essentials of life such as food, shelter, education and health; rights related to housing, land, property and livelihoods; and civil and political rights such as freedom of movement and expression. 1 4 Protecting Persons Affected by Natural Disasters: IASC Operational Guidelines on Human Rights and Natural Disasters, Brookings Bern Project on Internal Displacement, Washington DC, June 2006.