Global: UNHCR agrees to assume global responsibility for IDP protection

For a large part of its history, UNHCR became involved in the response to Internal Displacement in an ad-hoc case-by-case manner, focusing especially on those situations where IDPs were mixed with, or in close proximity to refugees or returnees and shared much the same needs and vulnerabilities. It has now agreed to take on global lead responsibility for ensuring adequate and effective responses to situations of conflict-induced internal displacement in the key areas of protection, camp management and emergency shelter. This approach was endorsed on 12 September by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, the main international humanitarian coordination body, and is expected to be tested in two to three major new emergencies starting in 2006.