ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the role played by the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, including in establishing a clear internally displaced persons (IDP) definition and list of rights for IDPs as well as responsibilities for both states and international actors. The role of international law is critical, as it provides the basis for both refugee and IDP protection. The UN Group of Governmental Experts on International Cooperation to Avert New Flows of Refugees suggested that coercion or compulsion was “a decisive factor in differentiating the movements to be addressed by a preventive approach from other mass movements.” The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court includes “deportation or forcible transfer of population” as a crime against humanity “when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.” The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights affirms the freedom of movement and residence within a country and to leave any country.
