A/HRC/4/38 page 15 recommendations aimed at encouraging national authorities, regional bodies and international organizations to prevent and manage displacement. The recommendations included developing laws and policies on internal displacement, improving data collection on IDP numbers, conditions and needs and integrating IDP protection issues into training for ECOWAS peace operations (see addendum 4 to this report, A/HRC/4/38/Add.4). 51. Following the Conference, the Representative met with the ECOWAS Deputy Executive Secretary and the Director of the Department of Humanitarian Affairs to discuss concrete steps ECOWAS could take based on the participants’ recommendations. He pledged to support ECOWAS in its efforts to address issues of internal displacement throughout the region and expressed his desire for continued cooperation with ECOWAS. The Organization of American States (OAS) 52. In the context of the continuing dialogue with that organization, the Representative was asked to provide substantive input in the run-up to the adoption of a resolution on internally displaced persons in the Americas. This resolution, adopted by the General Assembly of the OAS on 6 June 2006, inter alia, calls “upon States to protect the rights of internally displaced persons in natural and man-made disasters and to employ an approach to disaster relief and reconstruction, consistent with international human rights law and domestic law, taking into account the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and best practices” and urges “member States to consider adopting and implementing in their domestic law the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement”.2 This resolution is one of a series of OAS resolutions specifically addressing internal displacement. 53. The Representative recommended to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that the position of Special Rapporteur on Internal Displacement, which has been vacant for a long time, be filled and also suggested that the Commission adopt a systematic approach to the question of displacement when examining State reports. He furthermore recommended that the Commission undertake missions to countries that have been subjected to natural disasters in order to monitor how the human rights of the affected are being respected. E. National human rights institutions 54. National human rights institutions (NHRIs) are increasingly addressing the rights of IDPs in their activities. Building on the momentum developed in 2005 by NHRIs of the Asian region, the Representative supported the joint initiative of the Brookings-Bern Project and the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions to assist several NHRIs in the development of projects to address gaps in the protection of IDPs and to raise awareness about their situation. 55. In the Philippines, the Representative attended the national multi-stakeholder forum organized by the Philippines NHRI in December 2005 which led to the development in early 2006 of a National Action Plan. The Plan calls inter alia for all relevant actors to be involved in the development of a law on internal displacement and on the prevention of further internal displacement through sustaining community-based peacebuilding initiatives.