This handbook provides operational guidance and tools to support effective protection responses in situations of internal displacement.

Specifically, the Handbook seeks to:
- ensure staff members are familiar with the core concepts, principles and international legal standards that form the framework for protection work;
- assist staff in operationalizing these concepts, principles and legal standards and in carrying out their protection responsibilities;
- improve understanding of the particular protection risks faced by internally displaced women, men, boys and girls of various backgrounds;
- provide guidance on how to prevent and respond to the protection risks faced by IDPs through a range of different activities;
- enhance staff skills for carrying out protection work; and
- promote a consistent and well-coordinated protection response in different operations.

Whereas the focus of the Handbook is mainly on the protection of IDPs and other affected populations in
situations of internal displacement in complex emergencies, much of the guidance provided is relevant as well as during natural disasters when internal displacement and protection risks also often arise. A specific annex on Protection in Natural Disasters has been added to the final edition of the Handbook.