Protecting Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs): A Manual for Law and Policymakers

The IDP Legislator’s Manual Project – Vienna Expert Meeting 2008 took place on 16 and 17 May and was the third and final contribution of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental an Human Rights (LBI-GMR) to the elaboration of the IDP Manual. Following up the comparative study of 2005, which provided an overview of the existing domestic legal norms for the protection of IDPs in various countries, and the IDP Consultative Meeting in 2006, the final draft of the manual was presented and discussed with invited experts. On the basis of this feedback, the manual was revised and eventually published in October 2008.
The purpose of the overall project was to provide policy and law makers on a national level, who are confronted with the difficult task to ensure an adequate protection and support of IDPs, with a manual enabling them to put the general “UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement” into practice.
The overall project was led by Walter Kälin, Representative of the UN Secretary-General on the human rights of IDPs.