There are at least around three million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Europe and roughly 40 million of IDPs around the globe. The number of IDPs in the world has steadily increased over the past twenty years.

IDPs are among the most vulnerable people in Europe and beyond, and the protection of their rights is a key tenant of international and regional human rights instruments. States are primarily responsible for protecting and assisting IDPs under their jurisdictions, in line with the obligations set out in the European Convention on Human Rights and other Council of Europe instruments.

To equip the legal professionals throughout Europe with the skills to effectively protect IDPs rights, the Council of Europe HELP Programme under the Project ‘Strengthening the Human Rights Protection of Internally Displaced Persons in Ukraine’ developed a HELP course on Internal Displacement. The course covers in an interactive way some of the key concepts on the protection of IDPs, giving an insight into the international and European legal framework and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. The course offers a comprehensive curriculum to improve the quality of the response to internal displacement, supporting those who work towards providing IDPs with access to their rights.

It consists of 5 modules:
1. Overview and key concepts (definition, trends, risks, needs and barriers, solutions, key actors working with IDPs)
2. International and European legal framework (sovereignty and IDPs protection, legal differences between IDPs and Refugees, development of IDPs protection, international law applicable to IDPs, Council of Europe standards and cross-cutting rights)
3. Protection of property and home under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) (property rights, home)
4. Other frequently invoked ECHR rights (family rights and missing persons, freedom of movement, electoral rights, protection against discrimination)
5. Protection of social rights (international and Council of Europe standards, housing, education, employment and social protection, food and water, healthcare)

The course was finalized in July 2018. It is currently available in English, and it will be available in Ukrainian by the end of 2018.

Click here to take the course in English now. For more information, you can access the presentation of the course given by Lilja Gretarsdottir, Deputy Head of Division, Independent Human Rights Bodies, Council of Europe, given during the 2018 HELP Network Conference.