Term Paper
Enforceability of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internally Displaced Persons in the Philippines
By Bernard Velo Tumaru
I. INTRODUCTION
The United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (UNGPID) is a non-binding body of principles presented by the Representative of the SecretaryGeneral on Internally Displaced Persons to the UN Commission on Human Rights
(UNCHR) at its fifty-fourth Session in 1998, and is recognized as an important international framework for the protection of internally displaced persons. 1
The principles are intended to give guidance to
(a) The Representative of the Secretary-General on internally displaced persons in carrying out his mandate; (b) States when faced with the phenomenon of internal displacement; (c) All other authorities, groups and persons in their relations with internally displaced persons; and (d) Intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations when addressing internal displacement.2
The UNGPID is “not a binding instrument that could be ratified by States.” 3 There are no state-parties to speak of and a state cannot be held accountable to the any international body for non-compliance with its principles. This instrument, however, derives it compulsory force primarily on the basis that the embodied principles reflect and “are consistent with international human rights law and international humanitarian law.”4 To the extent, therefore, “that States have ratified the human rights and humanitarian instruments upon which the Guiding Principles are based, they are bound by the corresponding principles. States also can opt, as some have done, to make them binding by incorporating them into their domestic law.”5
The Philippines, however, has yet to incorporate the principles in UNGPID into its own municipal laws. An attempt at such legislation was made through Senate Bill No.
3317 and House Bill No. 5627 or the “Rights of Internally Displaced Persons Act of
See Internal
By Bernard Velo Tumaru
I. INTRODUCTION
The United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (UNGPID) is a non-binding body of principles presented by the Representative of the SecretaryGeneral on Internally Displaced Persons to the UN Commission on Human Rights
(UNCHR) at its fifty-fourth Session in 1998, and is recognized as an important international framework for the protection of internally displaced persons. 1
The principles are intended to give guidance to
(a) The Representative of the Secretary-General on internally displaced persons in carrying out his mandate; (b) States when faced with the phenomenon of internal displacement; (c) All other authorities, groups and persons in their relations with internally displaced persons; and (d) Intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations when addressing internal displacement.2
The UNGPID is “not a binding instrument that could be ratified by States.” 3 There are no state-parties to speak of and a state cannot be held accountable to the any international body for non-compliance with its principles. This instrument, however, derives it compulsory force primarily on the basis that the embodied principles reflect and “are consistent with international human rights law and international humanitarian law.”4 To the extent, therefore, “that States have ratified the human rights and humanitarian instruments upon which the Guiding Principles are based, they are bound by the corresponding principles. States also can opt, as some have done, to make them binding by incorporating them into their domestic law.”5
The Philippines, however, has yet to incorporate the principles in UNGPID into its own municipal laws. An attempt at such legislation was made through Senate Bill No.
3317 and House Bill No. 5627 or the “Rights of Internally Displaced Persons Act of
See Internal