Humanitarian agencies complete first round of training on IDP principles

The Norwegian Refugee Council and the IDP unit of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) have complete the first round of training workshops on the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, the agencies reported. In their October update, the agencies said that since April 2003, they had conducted nine two- to three-day workshops in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). "The workshops constituted the first phase of a long-term programme designed to identify and promote durable solutions for the country's IDPs [internally displaced persons] by raising awareness of the Guiding Principles - the key international framework for assisting and protecting IDPs - among the government, local authorities, non-governmental organisations, aid workers and internally displaced persons themselves," the agencies reported. They said their joint training programme had been developed following two UN inter-agency missions to the country in 2002 and early 2003, which had identified a lack of knowledge and training on IDP issues. "With over three million IDPs, the DRC has now the second-largest IDP population worldwide after Sudan," the agencies reported. "Many face a total lack of protection and are not aware of their rights." The training sessions were conducted primarily in eastern Congo, where most IDPs live, as well as in the capital, Kinshasa. "At the national level, the programme succeeded in raising awareness of the Guiding Principles among key government actors, UN agencies, international NGOs, and civil society representatives," the agencies reported. They said that at the grassroots level, the workshops brought together over 500 representatives of the local authorities, NGOs and IDPs “to gain an understanding of how displacement has affected their community and to develop concrete recommendations on how to improve the protection of IDPs". However, they said it was difficult to measure the extent to which increased awareness of IDP rights had resulted in any concrete improvement of the authorities' and armed groups' behaviour towards IDPs. "One of the major problems remains the total impunity of human rights violators and the lack of accountability of local actors," they reported. They also cautioned that without proper follow-up, the impact of the workshops would be limited. Both organisations said they would continue to conduct workshops in areas affected by internal displacement, and further develop the second phase of the programme within the regions they cover, particularly in collaboration with grassroots organisations that had participated in the workshops. [Complete workshop reports can be downloaded from the Global IDP Project's website and OCHA IDP Unit website: www.idpproject.org and www.reliefweb.int]