Over the past fifteen years, international involvement with internally displaced persons has become an increasingly accepted course of action when governments are unable or unwilling to provide for the welfare and security of their displaced populations. One of the reasons for this change has been evolving notions of sovereignty. Although the World Summit in September 2005 did not go so far as to affirm automatic international protection of populations at risk, it did posit a collective 'responsibility to protect' when civilians are subject to ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity or genocide.[43] This can be built upon to reinforce both national and international responsibility for internally displaced persons.

Similarly, the legal framework contained in the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement has increasingly been guiding governments and international organizations in addressing situations of displacement, influencing how the displaced are perceived and treated at the national and international levels.

Less effective have been the institutional arrangements developed, but here too progress is discernible. The UN's decision to assign responsibilities to specific agencies has the potential to bring predictability and clarity to the international response system for the displaced. UNHCR's role in the new division of labour is pivotal because it is focused on protection, the biggest gap in the system. Indeed, UNHCR is at a critical juncture in its 55-year history, having agreed to substantially expand its role to encompass the internally displaced. For the first time since the end of the Second World War, a comprehensive regime is being designed to address the needs of forced migrants on both sides of the border. As High Commissioner António Guterres put it, the international community has finally awakened to its 'biggest failure in terms of humanitarian action' and decided to act in defence of those who 'have not crossed a frontier'.[44]

The role of the military

Box 7.1 Lessons from Bosnia and Herzegovina

Notes

43. Ibid. para. 139.

44. 'UN refugee boss says world tackling past failures', News 1, Brisbane, Australia, 27 September 2005.