Attachments
1 INTRODUCTION
This Background Brief sets out key international standards and guidelines relating to displacement in the context of disasters and climate change. Recognising that the volume of even those standards and guidelines that are directly relevant to disaster displacement runs into hundreds of pages, it was considered that a background brief that condenses key principles and standards relating to all ‘phases’ of disaster displacement would be of use to actors lacking in-depth knowledge of the subject. The Background Brief serves primarily as an introduction to a series of ten law and policy reports, each of which focuses on the domestic framework addressing displacement in the context of disasters and climate change. The countries in focus in the series span the Asia Pacific region, and include China,
Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, the Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. Each study was conducted in collaboration with academics based primarily in institutions in each of these ten countries.
Our aim is that the research outputs will contribute to further initiatives to address displacement in the context of disasters and climate change, including by promoting further integration of displacement into disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) initiatives across the region.
The Background Brief has the following structure. First, a series of preliminary sections address the phenomenon, the importance of addressing the phenomenon within wider disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation initiatives, and the underlying human rights and gender-equal approach reflected in the guidelines and standards that are presented in the remainder of the Background Brief. Then, core guidelines and standards are presented in a structure mirroring the framework established by the 1998 Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement: prevention of displacement, protection during evacuation and throughout displacement, and durable solutions.
Annex 1 provides links to the standards covered in this Background Brief.