A/HRC/41/40/Add.1 protection and solutions for IDPs in line with the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. A. Rationale and progress to date 8. In its 2017 resolution on IDPs, the UN General Assembly called on States, UN entities, the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of IDPs, regional organizations, national human rights institutions, NGOs and other stakeholders to mark the 20th anniversary in 2018 of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (henceforth the Guiding Principles). 5 As a complex human rights, humanitarian and development challenge, internal displacement requires a multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder approach. This Plan of Action thus acts on the General Assembly resolution’s call by bringing together stakeholders on internal displacement to work more effectively and collaboratively to promote and support the common goal of reducing and resolving displacement through prevention, protection and solutions for IDPs. 9. The Guiding Principles are an appropriate and internationally recognized framework for this work, with their emphasis on “sovereignty as responsibility,” the participation of IDPs in decisions that affect them, and their applicability in prevention and ensuring durable solutions. Confirmed by the UN General Assembly on numerous occasions, 6 the Guiding Principles are authoritative, restating the rights of IDPs as enshrined in international human rights and international humanitarian law. The internally displaced are a particular group with distinct protection and assistance needs resulting from forced displacement and, having not left the country, they do not require a legal status and are entitled to protection by the state. There nevertheless remains considerable room to improve awareness, knowledge and application of the Guiding Principles. Their 20 th anniversary is therefore a strategic opportunity to foster multi-year action aimed at protection, prevention and solutions for IDPs. 10. Since the early 1990s when internal displacement was recognized as a global phenomenon, there has been progress in enhancing protection and mobilizing a coordinated response to the plight of IDPs.7 This includes the development of normative standards, the first being the Guiding Principles in 1998, from which, for instance, the IDP Protocol of the Great Lakes Pact (2006), and the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of IDPs (Kampala Convention) (2009) draw substantially. These standards and other key guidance have inspired dozens of national policies and laws on internal displacement and helped numerous States design effective responses to internal displacement. Endorsement of the Nansen Initiative’s Protection Agenda8 by more than 100 States in a global consultation in 2015 demonstrates wide acknowledgement of the challenge of disaster displacement. 11. Another marker of progress is that internal displacement has increasingly been recognized as a complex development challenge in addition to being a human rights and humanitarian issue. Underscoring the link between internal displacement and development, Member States pledged in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to leave no one behind, including IDPs. 9 Efforts to increase the engagement of development actors on internal displacement in coordination with humanitarian organizations are also gaining traction.10 Meanwhile, key reforms such as the introduction of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee’s (IASC) cluster system have sought to enhance the international response to 5 6 7 8 9 10 UN General Assembly, 14 November 2017, Protection of and assistance to IDPs, A/C.3/72/L.46/Rev.1, available at: http://undocs.org/A/C.3/72/L.46/Rev.1. UN General Assembly, Resolution 60/1. 2005 World Summit Outcome, A/RES/60/1, available at: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/ods/A-RES-60-1-E.pdf. UN Commission on Human Rights, 55th meeting, 1992/73, Internally displaced persons, 5 March 1992, http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/IDPersons/E%20CN.4_RES_1992_73.pdf. Agenda for the Protection of Cross-border Displaced Persons in the Context of Disasters and Climate Change. UN General Assembly, 25 September 2015, Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable development, para 23, available at: http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/70/1&Lang=E. UN General Assembly, 14 November 2017, Protection of and assistance to IDPs, A/C.3/72/L.46/Rev.1. 5