'A destructive combination of earthquakes, floods, droughts and other hazards make South Asia the world's most disaster-prone region. The effects are aggravated by climate change, unsuitable social and development policies, and environmental degradation. The effect is to slow or block development and keep millions trapped in poverty.

Oxfam's experience shows that successful disaster risk reduction policies, integrated into development work, save lives and money, making vulnerable communities more...

'Urban IDPs are often denied basic human rights; living in squalor and lacking physical security and freedom of movement. Without documentation urban IDPs are left unprotected by their national government and suffer as a result of insufficient food, water, healthcare and education. Women and children displaced in urban areas are vulnerable to sexual and gender-based violence. Moreover, urban IDPs are unable to improve their situation, since limited access to livelihoods prevents them from becomi more...

'This paper sets out the case for the development of a soft law framework on the protection of vulnerable irregular migrants. It divides into four parts. Firstly, it sets out the problems with the status quo. Secondly, it outlines the case for a soft law framework. Thirdly, it outlines the case for a collaborative approach to the operational implementation of the framework. Fourthly, it outlines the process through which such a framework would be developed and facilitated at the international le more...

'This booklet highlights UNHCR’s cooperation with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which include both national and international partners. UNHCR could not accomplish its important humanitarian work without the support of its NGO partners. As one historian of UNHCR has put it: “No element has been more vital to the successful conduct of the programmes of the UNHCR than the close partnership between UNHCR and the non-governmental organizations.”'

'This document, which focuses on international human rights law, is one of a series of self-study modules developed by UNHCR’s Division of International Protection Services in 2006. UNHCR first published a Human Rights and Refugee Protection training module in October 1995 (Volume I) and October 1996 (Volume II). That earlier module helped to create a greater awareness and understanding of human rights issues in the context of refugee protection. However, human rights law is constantly evolvin more...

This report is based on a series of consultations under the auspices of the Working Group on the Role of Women in Stabilization and Reconstruction Operations. It is widely recognized that women and young people are primary victims of conflict. During war, women are displaced, subject to sexual violence and HIV/AIDS by fighting forces, and assume the caretaking role for children and the elderly. Women are vulnerable to exploitation, abuse, sexual slavery, disease, and force recruitment into armed more...

TIMERGARAH, 21 August 2008 (IRIN) - Mohammad Jameel, aged around 30, along with his extended family of 35 people, is among thousands of local residents forced to flee their village in the restive Bajaur tribal agency, north of Peshawar. The rate of displacements has picked up since last week, when the Pakistani authorities launched a military operation against pro-Taliban militants in the area, say residents. About 400,000 people have left their homes and found refuge in Lower Dir, according to more...

Kenya’s post-election violence has displaced more than 600,000 persons within the country since December 2007. Although violence-induced displacement is not a new phenomenon in Kenya, the magnitude, speed and intensity of this displacement were unprecedented. Clashes in the 1990s, also around general elections, displaced hundreds of thousands of Kenyans, many of whom remain displaced today. The new coalition government has made the resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) a top prio more...

In 2007, the estimated number of people internally displaced as a result of armed conflicts and violence passed the 26 million mark. This is the highest figure since early 1990s, and marks a six percent increase from 2006 figure of 24.6 million. The increase resulted from a combination of continued high level of new displacements (3.7 million) and a lower level of return movements (2.7 million) in 2007.

Three countries – Colombia, Iraq and Sudan together accounted for nearly 50% of the wor more...

The Middle East region continued in 2007 to host diverse groups of internally displaced people with differing levels of humanitarian needs, some newly displaced by conflict and violence, and others who had been waiting for generations for a durable solution to their plight. It was a year in which continuing violence and deepening humanitarian crises brought international attention to displacement across the region.

Ongoing conflicts and accompanying widespread human rights violations causing more...