The number of internally displaced persons is at a record high, with most living in protracted displacement. While the humanitarian response in emergency situations is more effective than a decade ago, overall governance — the set of norms, institutions and processes necessary to address internal displacement — remains weak.

Using the 1998 UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement as the normative point of reference, this paper addresses several questions:

• What governance gaps and challenges exist in responses to internal displacement?
• Are there promising new approaches to internal displacement?
• How can we build on these approaches to make responses more reliable and effective?