 Our keynote speaker, Madam Paula Giveria Betancourt, Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of IDPs. Following the remarks from the Special Rapporteur, we are very excited to welcome a remarkable and distinguished group of panelists for discussion on the role of the guiding principles. We will then open the floor to interventions and questions before turning to closing remarks from the Special Advisor to the UN Secretary General on Solutions to Internal Displacement, Mr. Robert Piper. But before I pass the floor to Madam Giveria, a few housekeeping reminders for all of us. We will be recording today's discussion for those who cannot attend. We are currently in webinar function, so you'll note that your microphone should automatically be muted, but as we move to the discussion portion of the meeting, please raise your hand by clicking on the hand button or writing in the chat box. For interventions from the floor during the latter part of this event, we will start with those who preregister to speak when they RSVP'd. We'll also then time permitting invite others to make interventions who wish to do so. We welcome and we're looking forward to a dynamic discussion today. So if any of you have questions directed toward any of our speakers today, and I know I have many of them myself, we encourage you to do so. Please do use the time during the chat box to insert your questions so that even during the panel discussion, we can address them as they come out. There is interpretation in French, Spanish, and Arabic for today's event, and you'll have been prompted to select a language when you first joined the event, but access to access the interpretation options or change languages, you can click on the three dots on the toolbar at the top of the screen, then select language and speech, then language interpretation to pick the desired language screen. We will put these instructions in the text box for all of you. So with that housekeeping aside, it's my privilege to formally introduce our keynote speaker for today's event, Madame Paula Gaviria Betancourt, who is joining us today from Honduras, where they are having a national commemorative event immediately following this event. Madame Paula Gaviria Betancourt was appointed special rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons by the Human Rights Council and assumed this role as the first Latin American woman on 1st November of last year. She's a human rights lawyer and a forced displacement expert with over two decades of experience in human rights and humanitarian affairs. She's also Executive Director of Fundación Compas, a nonprofit organization that works to build peace and reconciliation in her home country. She was also a member of the UN Secretary General's high-level panel on internal displacement. Madame Gaviria, Paula, my friend, over to you. Thank you, Sam. It's an honor to convene this event to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the guiding principles on internal displacement. This is a celebration close to my heart and one that fits well with the theme freedom, equality, and justice for everyone for the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration for Human Rights. This event is organized with UNHCR and the Protection Cluster, a joint engagement that reflects this long-standing collaboration as well as with the Protection Expert Group created by my predecessor and them as a space for focused attention and exchange in dialogue and protection of IDPs like this event we're having today. Having this opportunity to hear from the first representative of the Secretary General and his then Special Advisor, as well as two of my predecessors on this panel is momentous, considering how deeply tied they are to the development and trajectory of influence the guiding principles have had. The Special Advisor on Solutions presents here is representative of his time, of this time of unprecedented mobilization within the UN system to support durable solutions for IDPs on a scale not seen before. I want to express my appreciation to our speakers Dialing from South Sudan and Yemen and participating online from Honduras before their national commemorative event starts. And many other governments, IDPs, host communities, UN, civil society and NGOs and different stakeholders are working worldwide towards putting the guiding principles into practice in their countries. I am humbled to see so many online now and look forward to their interventions. As Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights of IDPs, I am mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to use the guiding principles in my dialogues with governments, states, civil society, the UN and other international organizations and to support their dissemination and promote their use including in the development and implementation of domestic laws and policies. The guiding principles on internal displacement are a collection of principles that define who is an internally displaced person in situations of armed conflict, generalized violence, disasters and human rights violations and restate international human rights and humanitarian law standards that are most relevant to internally displaced persons. Reframing international legal standards in a small booklet that today may appear trivial. In a few clicks on a computer or tap on your mobile phone, you can download them in PDF in more than 40 languages, watch on YouTube and explanatory video series by my predecessor or take a free online course. But in fact, the guiding principles were ground breaking in many ways and have been proven to be a timeless guide today. At a time when states were vis-a-vis other states and the international community, highly protective of their national sovereignty and the principle of non-interference in their internal affairs, the guiding principles brilliantly affirmed the flip side of the sovereignty coin. National authorities have the primary responsibility to address internal displacement. They have been used as an authoritative tool for dialogue and to guide on action on how to prevent, address and resolve them predominant, how to protect internally displaced persons and people at risk of displacement in reference to the full spectrum of human rights without discrimination and as do other persons in the country. Regretfully, the UN guiding principles are just as relevant today as they were 25 years ago. The 2021 report of the UN Secretary General's High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement declare internal displacement a global crisis. At the end of 2021, there were 59.1 million internally displaced people across the world and I understand the number still to be announced is higher for 2022. We are here because we can be inspired by the progress made thanks to the guiding principles and to consider how renewed commitment to their use can help meet the challenges of these times. Many of the foundations laid by the guiding principles are recognized and have been progressively expanded over the past 25 years. So vernity as responsibility, primary responsibility of the state to protect are widely recognized as a common premise for engagement and whole of society approach, whole of government approaches are now standards to aim for. IDPs participation and this age in the guiding principles has brought them to encompass engaging IDPs as right holders with agency in all matters that affect them, including in law policy and durable solution processes as well as in others such as peace building and transitional justice. The guiding principles are recognized in and have inspired to the provisions of the African Union Kampala Convention and the laws, the policies, the strategies or action plans on internal displacement of 46 countries. Last month on Duda's became the 15th country to enact a law on the protection and assistance of IDPs. This is enormous progress in 25 years. Coming forward, there is predictable and more collaborative engagement by my mandate, UN, ICRC and other organizations to support at country level multi-stakeholder inclusive processes to develop and implement national responses on internal displacement. So how can you use the guiding principles to help translate such gains into more government and community action and impact on the lives of the IDPs? There is a strong call and commitment to course correct and to innovate how the UN system and interagency supports national ownership, responsibility and accountability, in particular to unlock solutions for IDPs through stronger and early engagement by development actors. How can we strengthen the visibility and use of the guiding principles as the human rights thread that tie prevention, protection and solutions together? With the report of the high-level panel on internal displacement and the follow-up Secretary General's action agenda, reflecting a global state of play, we have a common foundation for concerted action and unprecedented mobilizing of the UN system. I believe our speakers and participants can help us match some lessons with the guiding principles from the past to the ambitions and commitments that have been set to break through on the three interlink goals of prevention, protection and durable solutions. Thank you all once again. I'm looking forward to listening to all the panelists. Back to you. Thank you, Madam Giveria, for those keynote remarks. Indeed, we are hoping to explore further the groundbreaking work and we have some of the groundbreakers with us around the guiding principles. But in particularly, I think all of our focus always has and will continue to be how to translate this, as you say, so wisely into government and community action and in the end, how it impacts the lives of those affected by internal displacement. May we all hear more today about how we can innovate, how we can keep the human rights thread and how we can continue to progress and build on these foundations. We're now going to move to our panel discussion and I'm very excited to welcome our guests for this portion of the event. Following the dialogue among the panelists, we will then open for some, for comments and questions. But again, as I say, please feel free to use the chat box to pose questions now and we can hopefully address them during the course of our panel. As ever, I'd like to ask our speakers to respond not only to the questions, but also with any reflections you may have and feel free, really as our panelists, we're here to listen to you and to your interactions with one another, feel free to offer any thoughts you have, but also concisely, and we'd be very happy to go back and forth with one another. To begin with, it's my honor, firstly, to welcome Ambassador Francis Dang, the very first representative of the Secretary General on internal displacement, under whom the guiding principles were developed and who submitted these global standards to the UN Commission on Human Rights 25 years ago today. He has joined alongside Roberta Cohen, who was Ambassador Dang's senior advisor during this crucial moment in history. May I first turn to Ambassador Dang and pose a question to you, which is that the guiding principles affirm the primary responsibility of national authorities to protect and assist their displaced citizens and residents. Can you talk a bit more about the concept you coined sovereignty as responsibility, how these came to shape the core elements of the guiding principles and your thoughts on the matter today? Over to you, Ambassador Dang. Thank you very much, Sam. I must say that I was really very touched by the overview that we got from this special reporter. And I think her statement really encompassed both in depth and with the approaches and the issues that we considered in dealing with this issue. I want to highlight the fact that collaboration, both in terms of individuals who were involved in the drafting of the guiding principles and also in terms of reaching out for others to work together in promoting the guiding principles and in working with governments. I have to say that the fact that we are commemorating 25 years later, the guiding principles and what we have heard said by the special reporter really shows me that the guiding principles have succeeded and are now promising to succeed. I want to just highlight the fact that the concept of sovereignty as responsibility was intended to address the sensitivity of the issue of internal displacement. Because as we know by definition, it's internal and therefore touches on sovereignty. And what we intended to do was number one, to state the norm, the principle of responsibility of the state, but also implicit in sovereignty as responsibility is not only persuading the government to recognize that principle, but also working with the governments and working with the governments also relates to international collaboration with the government. We mean that collaboration in a broad sense. So we, as we later on developed other aspects of the approach, there are at least three pillars involved. The primary responsibility of the state, supporting the state and when the state fails, there are other obligations that the international community can then turn to. So the guiding principles in a sense embody both the norms in terms of the, what you might call the liability or responsibility of the state in legalistic terms. And when I say legalistic terms, the guiding principles embody core principles of human rights law, humanitarian law and analogous refugee law, but at the same time are intended to be soft. That's why we call them guiding principles. Soft in the sense of not frightening the government to be defensive or opposed, but to be cooperative. So that's the second aspect of the guiding principles. It's to say the law, but also to emphasize the softness, the gentle cooperation, persuasion of the government to cooperate. But when all that fails, then we tend to other aspects of the responsibility. Let me just say because I understand that time is not on our side and we have to be very brief. What I find very compelling, even about the presentation we just heard is not only that we look back to how the guiding principles develop and how they have since been disseminated and actually applied, but more importantly, into the future. And talking about the future to me, it continues to be a question of building on the law based on our approach on the legalistic aspect of the guiding principle, but also persuasive aspect. That means engaging the government to see the guiding principles, not as a threat to their sovereignty, but as a tool for cooperating with them to discharge the responsibilities which are in the first place theirs for their people. And the world is there to help them do what is actually their responsibility. I'll stop here and pass back to you. Thank you very much, Ambassador Deng, for those. And we do hope to come back to you with some further reflections as well in this panel discussion. But may I turn now to Ms. Roberta Cohen. You were alongside the ambassador. You were at the center of the efforts to ensure a collaborative and inclusive process to develop the guiding principles. Roberta, can we ask you, what are your thoughts? Once they were submitted to the commission on rights, there was the need, not only for the collaborative inclusive process, but also the need to continue to disseminate and socialize these principles around the world, which is no easy task at all. Can you share how you went about that at any reflections you have also on the collaborative inclusive process, on the need to disseminate and socialize these and any other reflections you may have. Roberta, over to you. Well, thank you very much, Sam. First, let me say how meaningful it is to be part of a program commemorating the guiding principles 25th anniversary, having been involved in organizing the initial process and not knowing how it was going to turn out. So thank you to the special rapporteur and to UNHCR and of course to Francis for his great inspiration for all of those who weren't involved at the time. Now, you refer to the inclusiveness of the drafting process of the principles, but it's important to note that the inclusiveness was intended to enrich the document, but also to promote ownership of the principles by a wide variety of UN agencies and NGOs. After all, the legal team headed by Walter Kalin could have been limited to international experts from academic institutions, but it included UNHCR, OHCHR and the ICRC. And as the draft progressed, we organized consultations with all the humanitarian and development agencies and the NGOs that were part of the UN Interagency Standing Committee. So by the time the principles were introduced and to the commission, IASC members under the leadership of Sergio Vieradinello had already endorsed the principles and were advocating for them in the commission. OHCHR even printed 10,000 copies so that UN agencies and NGOs could run with them as soon as the commission acknowledged them. That was the dissemination strategy at headquarters, but how is it carried out in the field? It was the RSG. It was Francis Deng who began to introduce the guiding principles to governments on his country missions. And we began to hold country seminars sometimes at the same time as the mission and with UN agencies to increase the impact of the RSG visit on government and civil society to recommend the development of national policies and laws and to make clear the responsibilities of the national authorities in all phases of displacement from prevention to solutions. And remember at the time that was really not known what those responsibilities were. Our strategy also gave special attention to regional and sub-regional organizations because neighboring countries bear the brunt of displacement and seminars with these bodies in Africa, the Americas and Europe, we managed to get the principles acknowledged which proved very useful with governments. We also organized regional country meetings. For example, in the South Caucasus, we got the governments and civil society in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia to come together. While in Mexico City, we got IDP associations and NGOs from different Central American countries to join the meeting. And I remember that the Mexican foreign minister who hosted the conference went to the Organization of American States thereafter and got that regional body to acknowledge the guiding principles. Finally, a word on our efforts to help reinforce civil society. It would be an understatement to say that governments need prodding. So we worked with national human rights commissions, these are quasi-governmental bodies to take up IDP situations. We worked with lawyers groups that reviewed their national laws in terms of the principles and press their governments to improve these laws. We worked with local NGOs that helped translate the principles into local languages. And some I remember provided training to IDP associations so that they could use the principles to advocate for better conditions in camps. And we worked with academics who use the principles to monitor conditions, hold courses, publish studies and engage in activism. I always remember a group of professors in India who told me how they use the principles to draw attention to IDP camp conditions in the state of Assam. And then the state government in response announced that each IDP family would receive cash compensation. And in Columbia with a highly active civil society, the constitutional court cited the principles and ordered the government to provide more material aid to IDPs. So in sum, we found the principles to be more than a piece of paper, but a document that could come alive, be empowering and help produce results. Thank you very much, Roberta, for those remarks. And indeed, not just a document, but coming alive and empowering is certainly something that we'll keep in mind and it is a good way to look at the guiding principles and the progress we've made today. It's my pleasure to now turn to the next panelist, which is Chaloka Biyani, joining us from South Sudan. Dr. Chaloka Biyani was the first special rapporteur on the human rights of IDPs after the mandate shifted or ceased from being that of a representative of the secretary general, holding that mandate from 2010 to 2016. He's also a former expert advisor to the high-level panel on internal displacement and currently also a member of the IDP Protection Expert Group. Mr. Biyani is joining us from Juba, South Sudan, where a local dialogue on the guiding principles just took place. We look forward also to hearing from you on the progress from that. Mr. Biyani is joined alongside by Nyajima Gatkuas, an internally displaced person in Juba, South Sudan who also participated in today's meeting in Juba. You've also working with nonviolent peace force, very, very pleased to have you with us. May I start with you, Chaloka? The guiding principles now underpin dozens of national IDP laws and policies around the world. Could you speak to us a bit about your experience in the process of transforming the non-binding guiding principles into national laws and policies as well as regional frameworks such as the African Union's Kampala Convention? Mr. Biyani, over to you. Well, thank you very much. First of all, let me just say it's an honor and a great privilege to be able to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the guiding principles in the presence of Francis Deng, Roberto Cohen and of course contemporary colleagues and friends. It makes, we may not actually quite grasp it, but it's a quarter of a century at 25 years ago where the guiding principles were formulated and adopted. It's quite an absorbing experience, mainly because there is the task of ensuring that the guiding principles are a living instrument through national laws and policies and of course the Kampala Convention is the obvious regional instrument in cooperating them. But I think the main experience is that first of all, there has to be national ownership. You do not impose a policy or a law on a government. Legislative function is the main function of governments. Policies are also the preserve of governments. And so at the invitation of governments through legislative advocacy, one identifies the legal framework of a country in which the policy or the law has to be situated. And one is mindful of the fact that the guiding principles are substantive, they're open texture set open, but these then have to be transformed into sources of law, sources of policy at national level. I think that's the first challenge to do. The second is to create structures that enable the application and implementation of the guiding principles at national level as well as at regional level. And now we speak of a whole of government approach in terms of coordination, a whole of society approach in terms of durable solutions, which shows how the guiding principles have been transformed in living practice in relation to the protection of IDPs as well as providing solutions for them. So typically an event will start with the workshop on the guiding principles and the protection of IDPs. So it's an educational exercise to try and bring everyone involved in the exercise to speed. The workshop will have a range of stakeholders from government ministers to members of parliament to civil society, to UN organizations, IDPs themselves, and other entities. After the first rounds of the workshop, you then have to produce a zero draft after the discussions and it's clearly back zero draft so it's not threatening in any way, but it puts your original ideas and your understanding of how the policy or the law has to incorporate the guiding principles. There's then a discussion from a minister, the members of the workshop. And of course, here you have to be a trust and confidence. Governments will not let you draft a policy or a law unless they actually feel that you're able to do so. And that what you're doing is for the benefit of the government and the IDPs, you know, primarily. You then really draft, of course, on the basis of the comments that have gone in and then you have the first draft, which again is discussed, looking at various recommendations that were made in the workshops, how they are reflected in the draft itself. So the draft will have the sources, the structures, the general principles, extrapolated from the guiding principles and then fundamentally the structure of the guiding principles in terms of protection from arbitrary displacement. And you have to look at what other forms of arbitrary displacement exist in a particular country. In South Sudan, for example, capital rustling was identified as a cause of arbitrary displacement. And this comes from the participants, you know, within the country. Then you have to look at protection during displacement and how the principles in the guiding principles can be transformed to provide concrete protection within a country. And then, of course, the humanitarian assistance and protection after displacement in the context of durable solutions. And throughout all of these phases, you have to earmark the primary responsibility of the state as Francis has indicated, but it runs from the basic primary responsibility to the provision of humanitarian assistance and onto durable solutions. So those aspects have a primary character in the guiding principles as regards the way in which governments have to discharge their responsibilities. Thereafter, if they're happy, then you have a validation workshop which formally validates the policy or the law. And at that point, it's then handed over to the government. So these processes have engaged from Afghanistan in terms of policies, but in terms of laws, it was also done, actually. And today we are sure that the IDP bill will be enacted in law before the end of this year. In Somalia, it has been approved by the Council of Ministers. It's now waiting to go to Parliament. And in Ethiopia, I was in Ethiopia about three weeks ago, they want to complete the transitional justice framework in order to include it in the draft bill as well as the special report that I indicated, the guiding principles are also relevant to transitional justice. Thank you so much, Dr. Vianne, for your remarks here. I'm very pleased now to turn to Madam Nyajima next to you and please pose the next question to you. Madam Nyajima, the guiding principles call for the meaningful participation of displaced people in decisions about their futures. It's about IDPs being at the table together. Could you speak about this from your perspective, the importance of IDP inclusion and participation? And maybe it's relevant to the transitional peace process in South Sudan. Madam Nyajima, over to you. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity and my greeting to all of you. Deep home from the global. I'm very happy to be a part of the meeting today. As an IDP, I talk about the experience of my expectation from the guiding principles. I personally, all the rest of the IDP, they will be feeling with the power that they are recognizing. We feel that we are recognizing, we are interested in it and our right to be respected. Second thing also, we have the opportunity to decide for ourselves where to go and where to be next up in the IDP camp. Those are the things that I believe for us. And also, to me, it has become perhaps a question about social provisions. I really go back to how we were going to deal with the host community back there, and because it has been a long time for us to meet the IDP camp in South Sudan. And so it gave us the opportunity as the IDP to know the agencies that are involved in the provision of the Guarani Police and the National Authority. So we go directly or advocate our needs that we needed to be given to us. Also, I think that we need to be more important is for the IDP to be monitorable, to see whether this action is really effective or is not effective. Because it can be just said out of that example, but let down on the implementation, it cannot go as IDP they need to be. So it had progress to monitor, and when you see anything that does not go the way that we feel good about it, we cannot so easily advocate and talk about it and actually go to see how they can address those government or the IDP. So I think it's very important for us to be a part of it because it's created because of us. Without IDP, there will be no guiding principle for the IDP. So it is my pleasure to be part of this discussion. Colleagues, we may have lost sound from Juba. Oh, yeah, Jima, we just lost you for a few seconds. Would you like to conclude? Okay. So I was saying, for this guiding principle, it's connected to the legal solutions on IDP participation in peace process in South Sudan. It can give us the power and monitoring closely on the peace process and implementation and about the attorneys of IDPs back home. It gives us the power and the knowledge to know where are we going and what are we going to do next and what are the same solutions that are available there because this guiding principle is made for us and we have to be well aware of it and we have to be sure that things that are going like the way that it can and is there a limitation or there's a limitation. So we feel we are in front of the process and we continue to be in the front of the process and we appreciate the power of this guiding principle and the support from the whole international community and we are expected to make sure that IDP rights are being recognized and we are expected. So we are very happy and I personally think it was a great effort. Thank you for guiding principle. Thank you, Niajima for that. And we certainly value your role as, I see two champions on the ground there in South Sudan and a great partnership both between Dr. Chaloka Bayani and yourself and indeed giving us much hope for transformation and change for the people of South Sudan. Thank you for sharing with us. I'd like to move now to another person who has experienced internal displacement himself and we have a panelist Ahmed Elzabidi, a representative of the Shabua Youth Organization in Yemen. Thank you very much for joining us today. If I could address you as a member of the advisory board to the UNHCR task team on engagement and partnerships with organizations led by displaced and stateless persons. While we know you're not speaking on behalf of the advisory board, you have this experience. Can you talk to us about the importance of including displaced people themselves in global discussions of policies on addressing internal displacement? Mr. Ahmed Elzabidi, over to you. And please, if you don't forget to please go ahead and unmute yourself, and then we would welcome your remarks. Assalamu alaikum, the sound is on. Hey Masmul, we can hear you loud and clear. Okay, welcome everyone and thank you very much. I can speak in Arabic as well. Thank you. Yes, we can hear you, go ahead. Okay. Thank you very much for taking this opportunity. Of course, displaced people are one of the most difficult stages of the life of these people. It causes a lot of suffering and mental disorders. Therefore, the members of the UNHCR in the international discussions of policies are very important and very important for the purpose. Thank you for the positive response to this opportunity and the arrangements of the discussions. The members of the UNHCR first of all support their rights and support the development of solutions to their problems. Moreover, they work on the continued progress in receiving data, especially in regard to women and children of the UNHCR. They are non-Marieans in international data and national data. They are non-Marieans in international data and national data. We find that the countries in large numbers focus on the immigrants who are crossing the border from one country to another while the people are not aware of their destiny and their needs. This is a matter that should be in the future and it is a good news that there will be changes in this side. In addition, the importance of the participation of the people in the international discussions will be done to protect the people in a safe and secure way and in a healthy way. It will help the refugees and the people of the countries to receive strong and healthy data before the refugees through their activities, especially in regard to the sense of protection that is usually not included in it, such as sexual abuse, abuse, and abuse. Therefore, they will receive healthy and strong data through the participation of the refugees in international data and in a safe and secure way. In addition, the needs that are required for them, whether it is for the refugees or for the people in the country, whether it is for the protection, prevention, education, health care, health care, and other needs. Thank you very much. Thank you so much, Saira Ahmed Al-Zabidi. Thank you very much for those remarks. May I move on now to welcome Madam Cecilia Jimenez-Domri to join us on the panel here. Madam Cecilia, she succeeded Chaluka Bayani as special repertor on the human rights of IDPs and just completed her tenure as mandate holder in October of last year. We hope she's also enjoying some well-deserved rest. She also is a member of the IDP Protection Expert Group. Madam Cecilia, if I could turn to you and prompt you for some of your reflections on this commemorative day, you yourself took the initiative to continue disseminating and sharing the guiding principles during the term of your mandate, but especially to local communities. And you even, I was pleased to join you as you recorded and launched a video series on the guiding principles on YouTube. We'll share the link to this in the chat. But may I ask you to please share with us your thoughts about the importance of bringing the guiding principles to local communities and not just national and international actors and any other reflections you may wish to share with us. Madam Cecilia, over to you. Thank you very much, Sam Chung. And it's really a pleasure for me to join you. Thank you for the invitation. And I have listened with great interest in the speakers preceding me beginning with the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of IDPs. Since the endorsement of the guiding principles on internal displacement in 1998, which endorsement we are commemorating today, it is very clear that the key to the protection, human rights protection of internally displaced persons and the promotion of those human rights lay in their implementation, implementation, implementation. And as we all know, the principal responsibility for this rests with state authorities. And the former special advisor to the Secretary General Ambassador Francis Ding has really been able to pursue that this, the sovereignty means responsibility. The principal responsibility for implementation of the guiding principles is actually supported by a vast range of stakeholders from the international community. But I think also as important, if not more important, national and local actors, neither can the implementation of the guiding principles be undertaken without the political agency of the internally displaced persons themselves whose participation in decisions affecting them is an, was an important running theme during my mandate, as well as a participation, the social cohesion that is needed for at local and host communities. And why is that? Because the guiding principles can only be really relevant if people themselves see that they are of use to them and that it will be protecting their rights from beginning to the end. Dissemination for the purpose of the if such implementation was therefore one of my key priorities, the 2018 to 2020 plan of action which commemorated the 20th anniversary of the guiding principles which I launched with Austria, Honduras and Uganda with the support of the UNHCR in Ocha. This was an important multi-stakeholder platform that dynamized dissemination and discourse on how the guiding principles can be mainstreamed into laws, policies, and as importantly, always into actual practices. The GP20 plan of action brought in focus the need for the guiding principles at national level implementation where they matter most, directly involving many UN states to ensure that the guiding principles are translated into appropriate laws be it national or local laws and as well as policies and programs that integrate prevention, protection, and solutions. In order to do this, many stakeholders are actually involved in such dissemination and implementation of the guiding principles. They are the bearers of the guiding principles to where they actually matter on the ground. I also would like to emphasize that the social element for the dissemination of the guiding principles is also essential and we need to confirm again and again that the principles is not merely a legal document as has already been emphasized. As a legal document, they contain norms, yes, many of which are now use-cogons and hard law, but it's only effective if it remains a living instrument that is used at the local level by the internally displaced persons, by local bodies, the communities. Also, if the guiding principles are being taught, research on the academic institutions, only if the guiding principles are advocated for by local and national human rights NGOs and humanitarian NGOs, but also I'd like to emphasize again, advocated for by all of us wherever we are. Dissemination is therefore done not only by a select few, it's not something that's an elite document, but it has to be by a multitude of actors. The guiding principles is applicable in a variety of circumstances, not only in situations of armed conflict and violence, natural disasters, including those linked to climate change, but also to the ever-growing number of situations linked to development projects that displaced thousands of people around the world. One last word, the international community needs to continue to push that April 17th is commemorated as an international day for internally displaced persons. A day like this held annually and officially would help keep the steadfastness that is needed not only for dissemination, but for actual implementation on the ground. Thank you very much for having me. Thank you very much, Madam Cecilia indeed to ensure the steadfast commitment to progress. We've seen, we're hearing so much about the efforts in the last 25 and indeed those efforts are needed in the coming period as well. Now may we travel back to Honduras where Madam Gaviria is joined alongside the government of Honduras in the room as well as other colleagues. May I turn it to you in terms of some reflections in December, the National Congress of Honduras passed a landmark law for the prevention, assistance and protection of displaced persons. It was signed by the president in January this week right around the anniversary of the guiding principles. This marks the entry into force of this IDP protection law. Madam Gaviria, we're going to bring in with you the voice of the government officials with you today who I understand are around you, although I cannot see on camera clearly yet, but I hope it will pan over to them. So if I will, first to Madam Secretary for Human Rights, Ms. Natalia Rogue, very good to see you again, welcoming you to this commemorative event. Congratulations to you on the new law. Madam Secretary, can you please tell us how the law aims to uphold the rights of displaced people as affirmed by the guiding principles? Madam Secretary, over to you. Muchas gracias y buenos días. Un gusto encontrarles a todos y a todas en este espacio. Mi abrazo desde Honduras y transmitimos también el saludo de nuestra presidenta, Xiomara Castro, y del gobierno solidario para nosotras. Es un orgullo, una enorme satisfacción haberles tenido hace cerca de tres meses y comprometernos junto con nuestro Congreso Nacional a aprobar esta ley y ahora ya poder estar aquí con ustedes con una ley aprobada y publicada, una ley que hay que decir que parte del esfuerzo de las organizaciones, sobre todo también con la participación de las comunidades es un esfuerzo de más de ocho años que se tradujo finalmente con toda la voluntad política y el acompañamiento de nuestro Congreso Nacional en una ley. Esta ley para la prevención, atención y protección a personas desplazadas internamente fue aprobada recientemente, este diciembre de 2022, antes de cumplir un año de nuestro gobierno, el gobierno solidario, y es un hito histórico, pues constituye el primer marco legal en Honduras enfocado en proteger a las personas y comunidades del impacto del desplazamiento forzado a causa de la violencia generalizada que tiene en este momento un impacto significativo en la sociedad hondureña. El contenido de esta ley hace suyo en los 30 principios rectores y dotan a la ley de una visión basada en derechos diferenciada y respetuosa de la dignidad humana. Es un importante instrumento, estos principios rectores y hoy en este 15º aniversario, decirles que fue una brújula. Los principios rectores han sido guías para el proceso de diseño de nuestra ley que contribuyeron a plasmar con claridad los derechos de las poblaciones desplazadas y la obligación primaria que tenemos como Estado para su protección. La aplicación trasciende el proceso de construcción de nuestra ley y está siendo incorporada también en la puesta en marcha de los mecanismos de protección como el que ya desarrollamos desde la Secretaría de Derechos Humanos en conjunto y con el apoyo de las organizaciones de Naciones Unidas, especialmente del alto comisionado para los refugiados. Nuestro país avanzado con paso sostenido para ir construyendo progresivamente estas medidas de respuesta tomando en cuenta también lo dramática de la situación del desplazamiento. Y aún antes de contar con esta ley, un ejemplo es la dirección para la protección de personas desplazadas internamente que tenemos en la Secretaría de Derechos Humanos. Honduras también ha sido un país en la región que ha marcado también liderazgos en la respuesta que se dan a este fenómeno, entre ellas la protección mediante el marco integral de regional de protección y soluciones. Y en este 2022, Honduras asumió su presidente, su presidencia protémpore y lideramos el grupo de trabajo de desplazamiento interno, lo que nos ha permitido compartir esta experiencia y aprender también de las buenas prácticas de otros países. Si bien, contamos con importantes logros, esta implementación de la ley implica un reto importante, implica construir todo un entramado, un andamiaje institucional que garantice respuestas integrales y sobre todo también algo muy importante que lo hemos señalado en diversas ocasiones, implica una nueva caracterización de la situación de desplazamiento en nuestro país, tener claro cómo el fenómeno en este momento está afectando a un porcentaje significativo de la población como primer paso para la aplicación de la ley. Agradecemos la participación y la presencia en este momento de la relatora especial, Paula Gaviria, por acompañarnos en este diálogo, también que será más adelante un diálogo nacional, que constituirá una oportunidad única para que implementemos para aprender y para compartir experiencias y para compartir por supuesto los retos significativos que tenemos en cuanto a la implementación de la ley. Sabemos que no estamos solas, que es precisamente el acompañamiento de las organizaciones internacionales y del sistema de Naciones Unidas, lo que ha permitido que tengamos esta ley que era una demanda de las organizaciones de sociedad civil y que desde el primer momento, recibimos en nuestros despachos a las diversas organizaciones en territorio y que ahora pues nos congratulamos de poder tener una ley, pero también es el momento de acuerparnos y de acompañarnos en el proceso de implementación. Agradezco nuevamente el espacio y devuelvo la palabra a ustedes. Thank you very much, Madam Secretary, for those remarks and indeed, such a positive example of leadership being set in the country of Honduras. It really harkens Francis Deng's discussions and mentioning of collaboration and sovereignty and of his responsibility being put into practice there. As I turn to Madam Gaviria, Paula, to you for some additional remarks on Honduras. Really, again, we commend you, particularly this collaboration between the UN and the international community. I know you're joined also by the UN resident coordinator, Alice Shackleford there with you, really this partnership and collaboration between the international and the national. We commend you on this. But if I could turn to you regarding the guiding principles which are established as a normative framework with increasing numbers of states establishing laws and policies based on that framework, such as in Honduras. As special rapporteur, as the international community collaborating together with the national governments, what do we see as most important when it comes to engaging and supporting states in implementing these laws and policies? Over to you in Honduras. Sam, thank you. So much experience, so much inspiration from the previous speakers. I think it's there. Since Francis then talked about the importance of persuasion and the importance of participation, multi-stakeholder approach, since Roberto Cohen started working on this and Chaloca's engagement working day to day in all the process involving the IDPs. I think the Honduran government and the communities and the displaced persons here should be very proud of this important step for the country. And not only because of it's a law born out of dialogue that builds upon all this experience that other countries have had, but also about consensus among diverse sectors. And also because it's evidence of Honduras' leadership in protecting those who are forced to flee. It is also a valuable exercise of sovereignty in which the Honduran state has made its primary obligation and responsibility to respond to forced displacement its own, its own. You are the reflection of the practicality of that principle. And by adopting this law assumes this commitment and this responsibility before the Honduran state and the Honduran people and the IDPs themselves, which is of high importance. So I think it's true what Ahmed and Ja Najima said. This guiding principles were created for you at the end. Your voices are the most important and will continue to be the most important, as Cecilia was saying, the implementation. And I told the ministry here, you're not alone. You're not alone. This is a huge challenge. You build the steps already. There's so many things you have done and so many steps you have taken already even before the law that the implementation is not going to be as hard. But also knowing that you're not alone is very important. And the IDPs are there to remind you that this is about them. And they have to be also part of the implementation process as I know that you're aware and you're working on it here in Honduras. That's all from me, Sam. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so very much. And indeed, we are not alone on this and we can see that by the many who are joining us, by also by this legacy of colleagues, leaders, champions, not only on this call, but across the world that have been working on this important issue over the years. I'd like to continue and try to invite even additional reflections and thoughts from our eminent panelists since we have this special opportunity with you today. And we will begin back with Ambassador Deng and Roberta Cohen. So we'll start with that and then we'll move on more or less in the order that we handle the panel to begin with. But we also have a couple of comments happening in the chat and I'd also like to invite our panelists to reflect on these and respond as you may like. There are questions in terms of whether the guiding principles are one-size-fits-all that was written in the chat. Is it the same in all circumstances? We've heard of course the different situations of conflict, violence, of disaster, but also different progress in different levels of progress in countries. So are the guiding principles one-size-fits-all? That's one of the questions in the chat that panelists may wish to pick up on. There's also quite a lot of discussion, particularly we've seen here on the situation of Ethiopia being raised in the chat. We have to flag that and recognize that, but I also wanna have that reflect on the situation in many countries around the world, but some of them are very, very, very in difficult situations of conflict and violence. There are comments in the chat about what about the guiding principles not working in our country right now? What about immediate needs around whether it be food security, whether it be human rights violations and the like? Any reflections on this? How do we speak to situations where it's felt that the guiding principles are not working for us today, but the urgency is now? So questions about that, we know in Ethiopia, we also know in other countries around the world where this question is posed. Third, there's also questions here on peace and security and maybe it's somewhere along those same lines, really the interrelationship between peace and security, the guiding principles and putting them into concrete action. Once again, noting that these guiding principles were drafted for the people themselves. So with those, a little bit of the questions that are in the chat, maybe I can prompt Ambassador Dang to begin with to share a little bit more. Again, you touched on this issue of sovereignty and responsibility, your thoughts on it today, on how we move forward, on both building on the law, but the persuasive aspects, any reflections you may have from governments in terms of expounding on the successes and cooperation, persuasion, all of this together. Ambassador Dang, over to you for some reflections and then we'll turn to Roberta after that. Thank you very much, Sam. Am I unmuted? Can you hear me? We hear you loud and clear. Excellent. Well, first I regret that I was not able to shift to translation to be able to get what the minister was saying, but I think I got the core of the gist of what she was saying. This is a very rich conversation and, of course, input from people with different perspectives that add up. And I just want to highlight a few points. One is that we were always conscious of linking protection with assistance so that governments would see that you are not only coming in with pointing fingers at failures and criticism, but also offering assistance to their needy. So that idea of linking protection and assistance was important. The other thing that was important was the element of prevention. Some of our legal experts were having some difficulty with the notion of prevention when it comes to the rights of the internal displays because they thought that legally it is easier to deal with the rights of those who have already been displaced rather than dealing with protection, I mean prevention. But we linked that to the experience of refugees. And Madam Ogata had introduced the idea of prevention as a very important aspect. And we built on that. And finally also the question of solutions. That was also a very important aspect. So you see the guiding principles dealing with prevention, protection during displacement, assistance, and solutions. The other thing I want to emphasize is the very delicate balance between the obligations, the legally binding concepts, and the aspect of persuasion of the soft law. And I say this to say, as I often did when I visited countries, the first five minutes with governments were very important in saying, I come knowing that this is an internal issue, falls under your sovereignty, I'm respectful of sovereignty, but I don't see it negatively as a barricade against the world. I see it as a positive concept of state responsibility with the international support. And we are here to offer support of the international community. But it's also very important. And this is the delicate balance we want to take. It's important that when the state fails and people are suffering and dying, the world is not going to watch and do nothing. So there's a delicate way of letting them also know that they have an obligation that is binding and that failure has consequences. So I would say it's not so much what you say as it is how you say it. The combination is critically important. And then I have had very practical experiences with governments, fearful of my coming as someone with the legal norms to impose and someone with the orientation to persuade them. So that's an important balance between the persuasion of legally binding instruments. That is to say, if you don't fulfill your obligations, ultimately there are consequences, but emphasize the responsibility first. Finally, it's the aspect of regional cooperation that are better alluded to. I do remember a situation in Sudan when the country was one of those very resistant to the guiding principles and to the involvement of the international community with internal displacement. But I had a minister of foreign affairs who was very cooperative with me. And he said to me in the end, you know, if we single out Sudan and deal with the problems of Sudan in isolation, people will be defensive because our people are paranoid, he said. Let us make it regional so that countries see it as something we are in it for. I mean, we are in it together. And then we cooperate together in dealing, analyzing the problem, identifying what needs to be done, how to get it done, beginning with the responsibility of the state and the cooperation of the region. So I think the regional dimension is also critically important. Ultimately, we go back to the inclusivity of the responsibility and any action because when we started, we were conscious of that there were organizations that were sensitive about any new norms being introduced. They thought it would dilute what already existed. So we began with involving them. And the guiding principles incrementally became inclusive in terms of the expertise that we mobilized in terms of the organizations that were involved and it became collectively owned. And I think that's a very important aspect that we all feel that we own the guiding principles, the government, the affected people, the international community. And that is what I find quite exciting is that it's not simply a question of having guiding principles that are binding but also a tool for collaboration in the interest of all concern and all stakeholders. Thank you. Thank you very much, Ambassador Dang. Indeed, as I turn to your colleague, Roberta, if I can invite you on screen, if you'd like to pick up on this thread of inclusivity of this responsibility, of how we arrive at this collective ownership. I know in your remarks, you mentioned even specific situations of IDP camps and applying the advocacy around these issues of empowering and enabling those that were stakeholders in it, but also even these practical issues around translation of the guiding principles. But maybe over to you for any thoughts or reflections you have on inclusivity of this responsibility or even any of the questions that we have raised during the course of today. Roberta, over to you. Thank you. Let me mention that the discussions made me think a bit about some of the lessons that came out of the dissemination strategy or the inclusiveness as you would call it. First of all, I recall that we had a number of seminars intended to influence governments. And one thing we discovered that it was important to include not just national but local authorities because they were often the ones with direct contact with the IDPs. And sometimes it was their local regulations. I remember about children in school documents that had to be adjusted so as not to impede assistance to IDPs. Second, the point has been made that the principles make crystal clear that IDP participation is essential. And I was so pleased to hear from Ms. Najima from South Sudan and Mr. Al-Zabidi from Yemen as well as the former rapporteur Cecilia Jimenez and the current one, Paulia Gaviria on the importance of including IDPs in protection efforts, peace processes, solutions. This relationship of peace and security is really very much should be emphasized because if IDPs are a destabilizing influence and don't have the attention that they require, then peace and security is less assured in the country. And that argument, in addition to the great need to meet humanitarian and very desperate humanitarian needs, this is something that maybe emphasized more. Third, we found that governments were often interested in knowing about best practices in other countries. And I assume by now there have been evaluations of what worked in different countries and what is standing in the way of implementation of the principles and how to resolve that. And I know one of the questioners has asked about really the difficult cases and where the principles are not working well. I would hope that there would be, even if they're internal evaluations of why this is not working in some countries and what steps and strategies ought to be pursued. I would also say that it's important to take a look at the laws and policies that have been identified. And here I believe the UN has compiled them. We found that laws and policies that simply reference the guiding principles would not be sufficient. They needed to be specific and cover all phases of displacement. And there's been talk here from prevention to solutions as well as most causes of displacement, conflicts, disasters and climate change. And also in future, I would imagine development projects. These are not put in the description of the guiding principles but they are in the guiding principles. And they were raised by former rapporteur Jimenez. And I think that that is important to look at how the persons uprooted by development projects fit into application of these principles. I know there are other standards that relate to such persons. And in addition in laws, implementation measures need to be included. How are they gonna be carried out in the country and are resources available? And then finally, I would say that it's important to have an office at the UN to monitor on a regular basis the usage of the guiding principles. And I hope that the UN's human rights advisors on IDPs will continue to provide technical assistance and training and encourage not only the development of laws and policies but their implementation. I know this will take resources but I would hope there is an office as I say something that really is dedicated to promoting the implementation and usage of the principles. And I really wanna thank UNHCR for its involvement and support over the years for the principles. There are many players to thank but UNHCR and the Brookings Project and the RSG did many projects together over the years and they were really quite wonderful. And our collaboration, it's evident but maybe needed to be said again, the principles, when the principles are supported and promoted by the full range of UN offices and agencies and countries. I mean, not as human rights, humanitarian, political development. You have a stronger foundation, more likely to sway governments even reticent or resistant ones. And influence their practices toward IDPs. So today's program is a very good reflection of the coming together of some of these parts of the UN and committing ourselves to do more. Thank you. Thank you very much, Roberta, for those remarks. Indeed, so time was for us today and also very concrete also for areas for us to continue focusing on, including as you mentioned, monitoring usage of the guiding principles and the best practices of which I know many of the stakeholders continue to be involved in today. I'd like to turn for us back to Juba, South Sudan and ask Dr. Chaloko Bayani and Madam Nyajima to join us on camera once again. If I could turn it to you to offer us some reflections. You've just completed a commemorative event. You've just undergone a workshop together. We've seen two champions on the ground. Chaloko, you of course have done regional and country workshops on and helped the domestication of laws and policies in so many situations around the world. Over to you for some reflections on where we stand today, on how the progress of South Sudan is. On lessons and advice for others around the world. Over to you, let's Dr. Chaloko Bayani and Madam Nyajima. Thank you very much, Sanj. Let me probably express a few thoughts on the Kampala Convention because I quite didn't. I was mind-focusing a bit more time. But that was a different process altogether. Without about some 53 states with about 10 delegations each negotiating an instrument and the nervousness around the process was such that the states wanted to take control and so to take me out as the expert of the commission and the African Union then turned to me and said, now you're the African Commission. You're acting on behalf of the African Commission. And with the Kampala Convention, the African Commission and with that endowment, the strategy changed. But the relevance of the Kampala Convention in the context of the guiding principles is it takes the principle of primary responsibility throughout. So it's a state responsibility instrument. So instead of rights of IDPs, it's the obligations of states as a matter of state responsibility. And Roberto had mentioned the question of a development-induced displacement which is referred to in the guiding principles in the context of arbitrary displacement that is not overwhelmingly justified in the public interest. But the Kampala Convention has full provisions on development-induced displacement. Something is always said about the guiding principles, disasters and climate change which we discussed today and I'll come back to that. But the Kampala Convention integrated that disasters and climate change into one score because it realized that as a living instrument, slow onset, sudden onset disasters are related to climate change rather than disaggregate them from climate change. But in the context of today's discussions here, I think they're very enlightening. So much has happened since the AIPEC mission we had the last time around. There was a great appreciation of the guiding principles understanding the sense of displacement, the phenomenon of displacement. Many people do not appreciate the co-essent elements that is compelled, forced to leave or obliged to leave. And the question which I think was also in the chat was raised how do you distinguish an AIPEC from someone who just moves from one place to another? And the answer, of course, is you have to look at the co-essent elements behind the movement. Slow onset disasters and climate change, you have to look to adaptation. And the guiding principles clearly are linked as a living instrument through disasters to those particular aspects as well. But I think what has happened so much in reflection, we have noticed the lack, perhaps, of political will, the waning presence of the government that is changing and has changed. The political will of the president clearly issued a statement that he didn't want the country to go back in conflict and wanted to sort out the problems. And with that, the structures I think have been cracked in action towards solutions. The durable solution strategy will be adopted as soon, shortly, the beyond IDPs as well, given concrete assurance before the end of the year. And at the same time, the UN agencies, as we reflected, there was a panel discussion looking at solutions, integrated approaches essentially, to the nexus, humanitarian peace, humanitarian development and, of course, adding climate change as well to the nexus and reflecting in the context of the guiding principles and also the approaches to engagement with the primary responsibility of the states, preferably from bottom up, local authorities, state authorities, right up to the national government and trying to linear their roles in that particular sense. And I think what came out of those discussions is that there's a more cohesive integrated approach amongst the UN agencies. We have the representative of UNHCR. We have the representative of the Danish refugee council, civil society. We have the advisor in the office of the president coordinator on the triple nexus and we also had the chief of section in UNMESS, the UN mission on integration and issues of concession. I think a particular issue that arose was one of the closure or the movement of IDPs from POC sites to camps and underscoring the point that the IDP protection system encourages encampment for reasons that were expressed. But as we noted last year, the problem of managing the transition and planning the transition and ensuring that protection runs throughout that transition from POC sites to camps and the handover of responsibilities of protection and the essential role of the government and I think that we'll speak to most of those issues because I think those were our points about contribution and reflection. Thank you. So in addition to what my colleagues said, I think we have some action points, I can say the action point because I have some questions to the local authority in the end. Is that as seen? I listed some of the questions concerning the return of the IDPs and then we also said they are doing an assessment whereby they have the coordination with the local authority in backing a state platform because I'm here in Yuba. We said the assessment they do it and whenever you are willing to go to the community and then they facilitate the process and then I have some more of the services from the military and to the IDP because there was a lot of cuts that IDP started in the IDP camp they are not having access for most of the services due to the transit from the time of the transition of the POC from the POC to the IDP camp. So there's a lot of gaps. The local authority was the one given the camp management, they are all hand managing before some of the end users are the one managing the camp where they provide some of the basic needs for the IDP. We are not satisfied because the government is not providing anything for the IDP. If this kind of transition in the POC to IDP camp and the expectation of IDP to turn back did something that will stop the contribution to the stop of the services to the IDP then they said no. Some people they are applying that of the fund from the donors and some they say they are providing the responsibility to the national and then the local national the national they say we don't have the resources we are mobilizing the resources from the humanitarian that's where the gap comes from people that are waiting for you to be integrated and for the integration to be done with the process. It takes a long time and if the services they serve how do we expect that IDP will continue to sustain until they are integrated back to the home of the states and also we have the knowledge that there is a lot of places where there is a flogging and still there are some places where there is insecurity. So in this kind of integration not that they want to go at once it's going to be a process that people they go to know them some people they have conditions that they are not going to go back home and some people maybe the thing of going to a different place as soon as to the same place where they come from also we talk of the land and properties that they love the local government here is also then forming that they are going to work on it to make sure that they turn back the things to the IDP because it is their right for them to have those properties and also they are returning and some people say okay then we go back because it has been like 10 years now but we have nothing back home for us to start from zero we need also the international community and the government to cooperate and then to see on how they do the assessment back home to make sure that there is services for the saline and especially the social services like the water, the school, hospital those things they are not existing back home there is no way to say that we are going back but here also we are feeling the credit that the services that I stopped in the IDP camp we are feeling we are pushed to go back home to make sure that maybe there is some interest somewhere there which is happy for IDP to go back so that people will say oh there is no IDP because if in the process our IDP has to be respected that is mentioned in the very principle that IDP the services and the protection and the IDP should be respected and should be really present Jamila thank you so much for that closing remark we are going to have to go on to the other speakers but thank you your voice has heard so loud and clear and your participation at the table with Chilok at your side is also deeply appreciated thank you for that I am going to have to I know that we are running a little bit on time so I am going to unfortunately have to call upon the next panelist to be very very precise and concise in your interventions but I would like to hear from each of the others before we close Madam Cecilia Jimenez-Domri if I could ask you to join me on screen and if I could ask you just very very concisely if you had to call you have spoken so much about the role of steadfastness needed and the participation of local communities could I ask you just for some final thoughts for the global audience regarding how do we continue and support the steadfastness needed for civil society for local communities to be active critical participants in this and not just passive participants really at the center of all of our efforts Madam Cecilia over to you very quickly thank you very much for giving me the floor Sam yes civil society is of course very are very crucial actors particularly on the at the local level they are usually the first responders and sometimes with or without the local government units in the international community but we have seen that local NGOs be it humanitarian or human rights really have a big role to play to insist on two things one is with regard to the link between humanitarian humanitarian assistance provision and human rights that being said the humanitarian assistance cannot be provided without the human rights perspective in order that it can be effective I think that's the first point that I would like to insist on but the second point is equally important in addition to the actual contact and relationship of civil society with internally displaced persons themselves there is also the importance of ensuring advocacy for the accountability of the states and of course even members of the armed groups and in certain situations including criminal gangs that they are actually held accountable with regard to the perpetration of actions that displaced people and this can be done of course through a human rights perspective using the guiding principles in terms of documentation in terms of ensuring the correct perspective in trying to implement accountability and last but not the least of course is really promoting advocacy for the rights of internally displaced persons civil society without civil society this will not be possible thank you thank you Cecilia for that and we know that even though you've completed your mandate as a Special Rapporteur you will continue to be a champion on many of these issues so we can't I'm working closely with you in the years to come if I could turn now very quickly to Mr. Ahmed Al-Zubaydi to join us on screen I'd like to ask if you have one more message one message regarding ensuring the voices of displaced people included in policy decisions around the world Ahmed if you're with us if I can ask you to share one more comment or message for the world on this issue Ahmed are you with us yes yes I'm listening five if I could ask you one last message to the world on including displaced people in policy discussions what would that message be if I could turn now very quickly to Mr. Al-Zubaydi I would like to ask if you have one more message for the world on including displaced people included in policy decisions that would affect them the United Nations and the United Nations and the United Nations and the United Nations and the United Nations and the United Nations and the United Nations and the United Nations and the United Nations and the United Nations and the United Nations and the United Nations and the United Nations and the United Nations and the United Nations and the United Nations and the United Nations and the United Nations and the United Nations We have the opportunity to listen to their suggestions and to evaluate the voices of the refugees in the policies that affect them. That is thanks to the amount of information, the number of problems, the challenges, the suggestions and the solutions that are required by the refugees themselves to protect their rights and improve their situation and the stability of the country. I would like to point out that the issue that has been raised in this community and the one that is related to a specific list of refugees from all over the United Nations is the issue of the refugees. I believe that more than 50 million people on the global level are new refugees from all over the world. We have the opportunity to listen to their suggestions and to evaluate their voices in addition to some countries such as Yemen. There are many refugees, so there are more than 4 million people in the country. In addition to the number of refugees from the African continent to Yemen, in the presence of the war and the strikes in this country, we hope to reach the level of the world. We hope to reach the level of the world. We hope to reach the level of the world. We hope to reach the level of the world. We hope to reach the level of the world. We hope to reach the level of the world. Thank you so much for those remarks. Let us move now back to Honduras to Madam Secretary Natalia Rogue. If I could invite you also to give one final piece of advice, if we may say, or recommendation. Your country is leading the way. If you have a recommendation for others, other countries around the world or for citizens around the world regarding the importance of breaking through on laws and policies for internal displacement or on the guiding principles. Madam Secretary, over to you for any final messages or remarks you may have. Muchas gracias y muy brevemente señalar la importancia de la participación de las personas desplazadas en todos los procesos de construcción de política pública. Para nosotros en la construcción de la ley ha sido fundamental la inclusión de las personas desplazadas internamente por violencia. Es decir que en esta última etapa contamos directamente con la participación de 70 personas desplazadas en la construcción y en riesgo de desplazamiento en la construcción de la política pública. Además de haber sido consultada con 27 instituciones del estado con organizaciones de sociedad civil y por supuesto que con los actores de la cooperación internacional específicamente atendiendo temas humanitarios y especialmente la oficina del alto comisionado reconocer nuevamente su trabajo comprometido. Es decir que este es un logro que también es de la oficina del alto comisionado porque han sido quienes han acompañado directamente a las comunidades durante este largo proceso de construcción que culmina ahora con mucha voluntad política en la promulgación de la ley pero que viene desde hace ocho años en un proceso de construcción desde las organizaciones que están en el territorio y con la inclusión de las personas desplazadas. Solamente muchas gracias. Thank you so much Madam Secretary for that. Voy a dar la palabra a la representación de la secretaría de la presidencia para hacer algún comentario. Muchas gracias por la palabra ministra Roque, Junichoy asesora legal de secretaría de la presidencia. Uno de los aspectos muy relevantes de esta ley y la creación de un sistema de atención nacional de respuesta de desplazamiento forzado internamente. Este órgano o este sistema crea tres órganos. La secretaría de derechos humanos tiene un rol muy fundamental en esta implementación de este sistema a través de la dirección para la protección de personas desplazadas internamente por violencia. El cual tiene extremadamente fundamental en respuesta y la búsqueda de soluciones duraderas ante este gran fenómeno social. Gracias. Thank you. Thank you so much. Our colleagues in Honduras, the government there for all of your remarks. So just before we turn the floor, we do have one video recorded remark. It's from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Felipe Grande, who was not able to be with us today and he did want to share a very brief message during this intervention segment. I would like to thank the special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced people, my good friend Paula Gaviria, for convening us for this event and I would like to thank all those taking part. I am very pleased to add my voice to commemorate the anniversary of the guiding principles on internal displacement. 25 years ago I remember that very well UNHCR strongly supported the establishment of the guiding principles and contributed to their drafting. Today we continue to stand up for them, promoting efforts for their incorporation into regional documents and legal instruments. For us the guiding principles are beyond the compilation and restatement of legal rules. They have key strategic value, placing human rights and the protection of internally displaced people at the center and shaping our responsibilities in all the dimensions of protection. And as we intensify our actions to address the challenges of internal displacement, the guiding principles are as critical as ever, remaining the foundation of our efforts. Thank you very much. Thank you very much to the High Commissioner for Refugees. As you could see we echo his sentiments regarding the guiding principles being more than just the restatement of law but indeed being the foundation of our efforts today. May I now turn the floor to the permanent representative of Austria to the United Nations Ambassador Desiree Schweitzer over to you Austria. Excellency dear colleagues, thank you very much for the floor. I am speaking on behalf of Ambassador Desiree Schweitzer who is not to be present here. I want to thank you for organizing this important event, marking the 25th anniversary of the guiding principles on the internal displacement. As we gather today we are faced with an unprecedented movement of intertwined crisis from climate change to war and human rights violations. This has resulted in over 100 million people being forcibly displaced worldwide with nearly 70 million of them being internally displaced. Just recently the number of internally displaced persons in Turkey and Syria has skyrocketed as a result of the devastating earthquake. The guiding principles on internal displacement were developed in 1998 as a set of international standards that provide a framework for the protection of and assistance to IDPs. These principles are critical to ensuring that the human rights and fundamental freedoms of IDPs respected and upheld during times of conflict, violence and other forms of internal displacement. On the occasion of this anniversary Austria reaffirms its strong commitment to respecting and protecting and fulfilling the rights and dignity of IDPs in accordance with these principles. As one of Austria's priorities at the Human Rights Council our efforts aim to improve the legal, institutional and practical protection of internally displaced persons worldwide with the mandate of the special rapporteur on the human rights of IDPs at the center of our efforts. Forced displacement is one of the most serious humanitarian problems of our times and current developments are not pointing to an improvement of the situation in the near future. Therefore we urgently need to find sustainable solutions. The 25th anniversary of the guiding principles reminds us of the importance of upholding the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all people regardless of their circumstances. We call on all states to uphold and properly implement the guiding principles on internal displacement in order to work towards a world where all people including IDPs can live in safety and dignity. Thank you very much. Thank you very much and before we move to Ukraine for the interests of trying to have as many interventions as possible we do invite you if possible to keep your interventions between one and two minutes. The Ukraine, if I may. Thank you very much distinguished panelists, colleagues. I thank the special rapporteur of Human Rights on IDPs, UNHCR, IDP Protections Group for convening us on this important occasion. One can never emphasize enough the importance of guiding principles on internal displacement which have gained truly universal permission. It is encouraging that an ever-increasing number of displacement-affected governments in every part of the world embrace the guiding principles by cooperating them in domestic laws and policies with my country Ukraine being no exception. For instance, our law on IDP rights and freedoms of 2014 and subsequent strategic policy documents have been shaped around the guiding principles. They also inspired the preparation of a new comprehensive Ukraine strategy for internal displacement until 2025, which is in the pipeline. Today's event could not be more timely. Russia's full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine caused one of the most horrific humanitarian crisis on records which stayed during 19.5 million people affected by various forms of displacement. Not only does Russia's aggression hamper the end of displacement, but it also attempts to worsen it. Millions of Ukrainian IDPs remain trapped under Russia's continued attacks, being deprived of a near possibility to return and rebuild their lives. Today we spoke a lot about state responsibility. The internal displacement crisis we are witnessing in my country today is the result of the crime of aggression against Ukraine committed by the state, by Russia. We must address its root causes, not just the symptoms. It can only be done through ending the climate of unity. Our message is clear on the 25th anniversary of the guiding principles where violations of international law take place, national and international efforts to pursue accountability must be a priority. Accountability is a cornerstone of my president's peace formula, aimed at bringing comprehensive, just and lasting peace to Ukraine and security to the whole world. Accountability has also been a key message of the New Earth's resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. We urge UN member states to demonstrate their regional and political leadership by joining an international coalition for the establishment of a special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine. Your support is essential to restore the sense of justice for victims of the war, including IDPs, to prevent displacement crisis from worsening, to guarantee safety and security for the entire world. Thank you. Thank you very much. We will move on next to the United States and if I could call IDMC to follow the United States. But first with the United States, over to you. Thank you, Sam. Hello. My name is Ashley McLaughlin. I'm with the U.S. Agency for International Development Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance. Thank you so much for this opportunity to hear from those who have been affected by the guiding principles and those who have played such an important role in shaping where our efforts are today. I'm very humbled by the progress that has been made and the long road ahead, as many have said, with forced displacement increasing year after year, we have to do more and think differently about our approach and how we can collectively better respond to the needs of IDPs while ensuring that the guiding principles remain the foundation of our response. This is more important than ever. With this in mind, I just quickly wanted to call attention to two ongoing initiatives that the U.S. government is supporting to accelerate these efforts. The first is an outcome of the Secretary General's Action Agenda and this is the ongoing independent review of the collective response to IDPs by the Interagency Standing Committee to look at how we can better respond to IDPs in the context of needs and rights-based humanitarian assistance while paving the way for solutions. We are proudly supporting this review and look forward to its recommendations. We are also supporting the ongoing efforts of the U.N. Office of the Special Advisor on Solutions to Internal Displacement. Progress on solutions requires the commitment of national governments first and foremost, as well as response actors, civil society, and meaningful engagement of IDP community. I look forward to hearing from Mr. Piper shortly on this important work. Finally, we call on all on this line to continue to support these efforts, keeping in mind their responsibilities outlined by the guiding principles, and to support continued progress on supporting protection, including access to provide life-saving assistance to displaced populations and solutions for the millions of IDPs across the globe. Thank you. Thank you very much from the United States. And before I hand the floor to Alexandra Bilak from IDMC would like to flag that colleagues from Niger and Venezuela, who was requested to speak, if you're still online, please do raise your hand so that we can identify you from the participants. And if not after that, we will go to UNDP after Niger and Venezuela. But before that, IDMC, Alexandra, over to you. Thanks very much, Sam. And thanks very much to our special reporter, Paula Gaviria, and to the GPC for organizing this event. I know I don't have much time left, but I just wanted to say it's a pleasure to be with all of you today on such an important date. And of course, an honor to see Paula and her esteemed predecessors reunited here together to reaffirm the groundbreaking nature, and of course, the continued relevance of the guiding principles. This year, as you know, IDMC is also celebrating its own 25th anniversary, albeit, of course, on a much more modest scale. IDMC was established to support with data and evidence, the dissemination and the implementation of the guiding principles. And we're very grateful for the opportunity that this anniversary offers us to reflect on the global advances that we've made as an institution, and on data specifically, to look at how the knowledge that we've gathered, the lessons that we've learned have helped shape the narrative around internal displacement over the past quarter of a century. So we're very proud of these contributions, but also, and more importantly, of all the partnerships that have helped us achieve this. Many of you are present here today. So thank you very much. In a nutshell, I think it's fair to say that we are now able to provide a global measure of the scale of internal displacement. And thanks to the data that is available now, we have shown that internal displacement is very much a global phenomenon, which has a global footprint. We're able to break down our understanding of internal displacement according to different types of triggers, looking at different forms of conflict, different types of violence, but also importantly now also understanding the impacts of sudden and slow onset disasters. We're also now able to better assess global disaster displacement risk and look at hotspots and equip governments with the tools to prepare to respond to these hotspots. And more recently, we've done a lot of methodological advancements when it comes to understanding the duration of internal displacement, its social and economic impacts, of course, the barriers and the enablers to solutions, the differentiated impacts of displacement across different population groups, and the risk, the specific risk that different countries face for the future. We welcome the reaffirmed focus in this conversation that all the speakers today have placed on the principle of sovereignty as responsibility, a principle that has been reiterated 25 years on in the recommendations of the high-level panel on internal displacement, with its focus on the need to build and to support national ownership, including ownership of data and data systems. And with this, it's also been mentioned, we've also been encouraged by the multiplication of new spaces for dialogue, for political dialogue on this issue, which are being supported by a more systematic compilation and sharing of good practices, something that IDMC and many of our partners are prioritizing today. But importantly, and I'll just end on this, our advances in data and analysis have helped us shape a new or several new narratives over the years. We're looking at it, as I said, as a global phenomenon. We know that not every country is affected in the same way. We know that climate change is an accelerator of displacement, but it's not the only factor. There are multiple factors involved, mostly socioeconomic. And today, internal displacement is as much a development challenge as it is a humanitarian one. And this year's Global Reports that we'll be publishing next month on food security is a good illustration of the need for continued multi-stakeholder, multi-mandated and integrated approaches to this issue moving forward. And finally, it's really great to see such a close collaboration between the special rapporteur on the human rights of IDPs and our special advisor on solutions to very critical and complementary roles and mandates that are so essential today for addressing this issue in all its multifaceted nature. So IDMC stands ready to continue supporting both mandates to the best of our ability in the coming years. And again, thank you so much for inviting us for this very important event. It's humbling to listen to everything that's been achieved over the last 25 years. Thank you. Thank you very much, Alex. And in the absence of Niger and Venezuela, in case you want to indicate yourselves in the chat, we will move now to UNDP, followed by GIPs, the Joint IDP Profiling Service. UNDP, over to you. UNDP, I see you online, perhaps if you want to unmute yourself or if tech support colleagues could allow that or enable that. But in the meantime, let's go to GIPs, the Joint IDP Profiling Service. GIPs, over to you. Thank you so much for the opportunity to also quick in and add. Really honored to address you today as the coordinator of GIPs. And as we mark this milestone anniversary, it's really important to highlight that first and foremost, the guiding principles provide a comprehensive framework for upholding the human rights of IDPs as a fundamental aspect of achieving durable solutions. Without respecting human rights, no durable solutions can be found. And I think we heard today as well that it is a rights-based approach which should be insured through protection and empowerment strategies. And for that, we also heard very impactfully also as described by this team speaker from Yemen that it is crucial to have a comprehensive and timely evidence providing relevant data and analysis that acknowledges the complexities of durable solutions, the interests of various stakeholders, and the unique characteristics of each context is still a significant obstacle to achieving this goal. However, I do want to highlight one of the achievements also of the last 25 years, a key state forward made in that period after the development of the guiding principles and recognizing the agency and advocating for the human rights of IDPs has been the operationalization of the ESC framework on durable solutions into the durable solutions indicator library. Through that durable solutions analysis, we can of course explore to the extent to which displaced populations face vulnerabilities caused by their displacement and identify specific interventions required to address these vulnerabilities. I'm also really pleased to see, of course, as highlighted not just by the special reporter herself but also by Ambassador Dang and other speakers to ensure effective solutions analysis that is crucial to consider the collaborative process involved and the resources required for collaboration. We know that it cannot be a single agency, a one-off assessment. We must consider that all components of this analysis come together and that this holistic approach engages IDPs. From the moment data on their situation is being collected and analyzed ensures that solutions are owned by them by displacement affected communities reflecting their choices. So keeping it brief, thank you so much for the opportunity to to reflect the work of DIPPS remains, of course, grounded in the guiding principles as we promote the effectiveness of joint action to support the pursuit of solutions. And as we reflect on the 25th anniversary, we renew our commitment to the principles and to work together towards ensuring the rights and well-being of all those affected by internal displacement. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Wilhelmina, for those remarks. And UNDP, we see we've been able to unmute you. May I hand the floor to you for your remarks? Yes, thank you so much, Sam, and really just to start with thank you to the organizers for the opportunity to reflect and to celebrate the guiding principles and their continued importance given the growing internal displacement crisis worldwide. As many other panelists, but also people from the floor have said, for us, we see the guiding principles as having a simple and enduring message that states are primarily responsible for the protection and assistance and in finding solutions for people that are displaced within their own borders. Seeing IDPs as citizens with rights rather than merely as people in need underpins the guiding and principles and now the high-level panel report and the SG action agenda. As UNDP in 2022, we released our own report called Turning the Tide on Internal Displacement, and it echoes the guiding principles call for this renewed social contract between displaced citizen and state. But as others have said, we can't deny that more needs to be done and done differently. Efforts still too often come in the form of humanitarian interventions and stop short of addressing the root causes as well as providing sustainable solutions. But the Secretary General's action agenda is a sign of new momentum on tackling displacement crisis and the desire to impact the guiding principles. When we speak to our UNDP colleagues in the field, what they tell us is that there is an urgent need for investment in people-centered approaches to basic services and pathways to integration. Resolving internal displacement means that IDPs must have the same opportunities and the choices of the rest of the population and human security is restored. Just to close Sam, keeping to time limits, we at UNDP are stepping up our efforts and will continue to work with a special advisor on solutions to displacement, the special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons but most importantly with governments and local authorities to bring about this change. Internal displacement requires long-term integrated solutions that help countries break the cycle of fragility and get ahead of the crisis curve and we at UNDP will be doing our part. Thanks Sam and thank you all colleagues. Thank you so much Kate. Colleagues, I'm going to apologize. We are going to have to bring the interventions to a close here. We did get I think between 30 and 40 requests for interventions that we were sadly not able to get to all of you. So Maria Halle, Emmanuel Carlos, Mimi and others, we do appreciate your interest in speaking. Also we would like to flag this is once again this is the beginning of a number of discussions around this for the rest of the year. We will have cross regional exchanges that the IPEG and UNHCR will pick up the conversations on other opportunities so we welcome you and also please feel free to continue to use the chat for additional functional for additional remarks. But for closing remarks I am pleased to introduce Mr. Robert Piper if I can invite you to join us on screen here. The special advisor to the UN Secretary General on solutions to internal displacement. Mr. Piper brings to the position more than 30 years of experience in international development, humanitarian response and peace building at the UN. Before his appointment as special advisor he was head of the United Nations Development Cooperation Office. Thank you for joining us Robert if I could hand the floor to you for our closing remarks. Thank you Sam and thank you everyone what an incredible privilege. I first to hear from some of the architects who have really accompanied this process from the very beginning from Francis, from Roberta, from Celoka, from Cecilia and most recently of course Paolo Gaviria who's taken on this mantle. We're missing Walter Kaelin and we acknowledge his absence but also to hear from some of the more recent stories that really emphasize how the guiding principles are very much alive and real document and we've heard from Honduras, from Natalia, from Ahmed and Yemen and of course from Nyajima in South Sudan about the issues that are happening today that really turn the guiding principles into reality. As the youngest kid maybe or the newest kid on the block, maybe not sadly the youngest, let me recognize the incredible painstaking work that has brought us to where we are today by so many people on this call. The guiding principles have really been the bedrock of all this work emphasizing the responsibility of governments, the inalienable rights of IDPs with other citizens in their country with the need to identify and recognize the specific vulnerabilities of people in displacement and the responsibility of all of us to respond and to support. We've heard about how the architects approached this very delicate process of finding a balance between this issue of using the framework to establish the rules if you will of the game, the rights of IDPs but also as a vehicle to engage governments fully rather than create some kind of counter reaction if you will. We've heard about its journey into national legislation and into institutions most recently in Honduras. We heard about its journey into regional vehicles and how the guiding principles were turned also to look at state responsibility rather than IDP rights about the painstaking way in which a coalition of stakeholders was built around the process involving civil society of course but especially IDPs but also regional actors about the importance of building the institutions to actually roll out these principles and to make sure that a civil society are some of those institutions locally but also mayors and local government and we heard about how the framework also included in many ways for the first time an emphasis on prevention and on solutions some really incredibly far-thinking vision that went into designing the guiding principles and their subsequent evolution. By carving out this space in our international jurisprudence for IDPs, the architects and the member states who accompanied this process really helped consolidate a distinct identity for this group of people who are unfortunately too easily lost from sight. Without the guiding principles and the work that is followed we really would be nowhere in terms of getting that visibility on this very difficult issue but we still need to stay the course 25 years on let me mention three areas where we can see the challenges ahead. First let's be realistic we have failed to get in front of the trend line IDPs were 25 million people when the guiding principles were enacted in 1998 we are still waiting for the official numbers from Alexandra and her colleagues but we know we're somewhere on the wrong side of 70 million people today nearly three times as many as 25 years ago we desperately need to get better on the prevention side. Second we have somehow allowed displacement protracted displacement for years and even decades to have somehow become normal somehow acceptable. The guiding principles were not really conceived I don't think for a 20 year displacement scenario there would have been outrage then if it was suggested as the sort of standard kind of scenario and there should now be still outrage at the fact that this has become far far too common. Of course the principles still apply 20 years into a displacement but there are a host of issues around say intergenerational questions issues around very long delayed compensation around identity that are in the principles already but need some finessing some new thinking perhaps in the context of very protracted displacement and third as a number of people as have mentioned climate change has really entered this picture in a big and very unwelcome way the line between conflict and climate-induced displacement is harder to draw. The two plus million Somali IDPs have moved to towns over recent years it's been a process accelerated certainly by conflict but the underlying driver is five years without rain five years of successive droughts defining forced to flee or the coercive or otherwise involuntary character of movement to quote the principles has become more difficult 25 years on this concerns the agency of the individuals concerned it has some bearing also on governments that are affected by internal displacement and how fairly lay look to other governments to help them bear the cost of finding solutions. Climate change by suspect is also going to make local integration and increasingly a popular option if you will for IDPs seeking solutions. So with the guiding principles as our north star and with inspiration from the SG's high level panel on internal displacement we're trying to move to the next chapter of our global IDP response. In this next chapter we are advocating for greater recognition of the impact of climate change on displacement and getting governments and their partners to act proactively on climate induced mobility as a development challenge and to do so in such a way that allows these forces these processes of change these forces that are putting pressure on people to be managed as a development process and not allowed to become an internal displacement crisis. Second we're working with humanitarian first responders to see how we might design humanitarian responses to displacement in such a way that we reverse this increasing trend towards protracted displacement. Is there anything we can do early that might pay off in terms of making that transition out of displacement sooner or smoother greater investments in resilience in livelihoods building on national systems ensuring that governments never lose sight of their responsibilities. Third we're working with those governments themselves and their development partners to build a model for displacement solutions that is government led and development financed if and when a government is committed to resolve their displacement issues in their country respecting the guiding principles as the framework by which this needs to be done. How can we mobilize around this task? What kind of political leadership is required from governments? How can the UN and its partners help? What might be the role of the IFIs or the climate financing instruments? What are the political and institutional obstacles that seem to prevent us from doing this despite the clarity if you will of the vision? The Secretary General's Action Agenda on Internal Displacement brings all of these ideas together around 32 commitments that have been made by the UN and 21 of our agencies and it's a call to action by member states to make the necessary commitments on their side as well to turn these ideas into reality. My office will coordinate this work over the next two years and it will come to a close at a high level international event that is planned around internal displacement in late 2024. So to finish this extraordinary discussion and to thank everyone for the wealth of inside and experience I want to acknowledge how extraordinary these these guiding principles have been these past 25 years. As we look to the future the contours of what needs to be done, of who needs to do it and of how it needs to be done, the way that safeguards the rights of IDPs and fully restores their agency over their own lives was spelled out for us in this path finding effort of the guiding principles. We really would be nowhere without them. So let me finish by taking this unique opportunity to recognize their architects that are around in our virtual space today to recognize the extraordinary work that they have launched 25 years ago and on behalf of the UN family to recommit us to turning these to respecting these guiding principles and to turning them into reality as we work with maybe 70 million or so IDPs around the globe today. Thank you Sam, thank you all for an extraordinary discussion. Back to you. Thank you so much Robert for that those closing remarks and before we finally close Paula any last words as the convener of this important commemorative event today. Paula over to you. Thank you so much to all of you for being here to all of our amazing speakers and panelists for sharing the essential role of the guiding principles in the 25 years since we they were drafted. I am so grateful to be part of this remarkable community. We have enormous challenges ahead but I am so excited about what we can accomplish together in the months and years ahead. Thank you so much again back to you Sam. Well thank you and so let's we will wrap up this we were standing on the shoulders of so many who not only organized this event I want to give a distinct thanks to the interpreters also for for their hard work throughout this event but also all those who helped make this event a reality as Robert you said and Paula you've confirmed and all those who are with us. We have the architects we're standing on shoulders but even today we are all architects in this joint endeavor today so I will close here and thank you for all those around the world that were able to join us. What a special moment today this commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the guiding principles on internal displacement. We wish you all well we thank you for participation and we look forward to meeting again soon. Thank you so much.