A/HRC/13/21 66. General insecurity in crisis-affected States suffering from a breakdown of law and order is on the rise. Virtually all modern armed conflicts involve non-State armed groups and many of them operate more like unscrupulous criminal gangs than armed political movements with a sense of respect for humanitarian principles. In several countries, humanitarian operations have been deliberately targeted in attacks. Internally displaced persons and other crisis-affected populations suffer the consequences (and this destabilizing effect may be the very intent of attacks on humanitarians). 67. General insecurity and targeted attacks on humanitarian workers have led to the evacuation of humanitarian personnel, the imposition of staff ceilings for international staff, strict curfews and movement restrictions. Humanitarian actors are more and more forced into remote management of operations, which creates new and additional challenges. 68. The Representative is also alarmed by the fact that certain States, invoking national sovereignty as a cover, deny humanitarian access or make it subject to conditions that would make humanitarian actors complicit in violations of international law. Also on the increase are harassment, intimidation, the arbitrary expulsion of aid workers or the imposition of bureaucratic obstacles to prevent their timely deployment, measures that have the apparent aim of limiting the effectiveness of “protection by presence”. G. Ensuring accountability for arbitrary internal displacement 69. Year after year, a large number of people are arbitrarily displaced in violation of international human rights and humanitarian law as restated in the Guiding Principles.35 One of the most effective ways to stop arbitrary displacement from occurring is for all relevant actors to scrupulously respect their obligations and to put an end to impunity, ensuring that those responsible for carrying out arbitrary displacement and other violations of the rights of the displaced are held accountable. 70. The Representative is pleased to note an increasing trend to criminalize the most atrocious forms of arbitrary displacement, including ethnic cleansing. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court recognizes that certain types of arbitrary displacement may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity.36 71. It is also worth noting that the Kampala Convention obliges States to hold members of armed groups criminally responsible for violations of the rights of the displaced, including arbitrary displacement.37 A number of countries such as Colombia have already criminalized arbitrary displacement in their penal legislation, although the number of prosecutions and convictions remains low. 72. Accountability extends beyond criminal sanctions. Victims of serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, including victims of deliberate arbitrary displacement, have a right to an effective remedy for violations suffered, including 35 36 37 GE.10-10161 See Guiding Principle 6. The Rome Statute recognizes that deportation or forcible transfer of population may amount to a war crime or crime against humanity (article 7 (1) (d) and 8 (2) (a) (vii) and (b) (viii)), with the accompanying Elements of Crimes highlighting in Fn. 13 that the terms “deported or forcibly transferred” are interchangeable with “forcibly displaced”. In non-international armed conflicts, it may also be a war crime to order the displacement of the civilian population for reasons related to the conflict, unless the security of the civilians involved or imperative military reasons so demand (see Rome Statute, art. 8 (2) (e) (viii)). See art. 7, paras. 4 and 5 (a). 17