request from the Secretary-General (or the competent organs of the UN), followed by the consent of the state concerned, and with due consideration for the mandates and expertise of other relevant organizations.396 Since 2005, UN agencies and international organizations have established an inter-agency collaborative approach (the “cluster approach”) in order to coordinate and improve responses to the humanitarian needs of non-refugee situations, marking a considerable step forward for the international protection of IDPs.397 396 Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees: resolution adopted by the General Assembly (12 February 1999) UNGA Res 53/125 <http://www.refworld.org/docid/3b00f52c0.html> accessed 3 October 2022. 397 UNHCR, ‘Cluster Approach (IASC)’ in UNHCR, Emergency Handbook (UNHCR 2019) <https://emergency.unhcr. org/entry/61190/cluster-approach-iasc> accessed 3 October 2022. For more on UNHCR’s role regarding IDPs, see UNHCR, ‘Informal Consultative Meeting: The Protection of Internally Displaced Persons and the Role of UNHCR’ (2007) <http://www.refworld.org/docid/45ddc5c04.html> accessed 3 October 2022. 398 Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (adopted 12 August 1949, entered into force 21 October 1950) 75 UNTS 287, art 44 [hereinafter Fourth Geneva Convention] <https://www.un.org/ en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-crimes/Doc.33_GC-IV-EN.pdf> accessed 3 October 2022. 399 Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (adopted 8 June 1977, entered into force 7 December 1978) 1125 UNTS 3, art 7 [hereinafter Additional Protocol I] <https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b36b4.html> accessed 3 October 2022. 400 Fourth Geneva Convention (n 398), art 49; Additional Protocol I (n 399), art 85(4)(a); Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (17 July 1998) 2187 UNTS 90, art 8(2)(b)(viii) [hereinafter Rome Statute] <https://www.icc-cpi.int/ sites/default/files/RS-Eng.pdf> accessed 3 October 2022. 401 Additional Protocol I (n 399), art 85(3)(a-b). 402 Fourth Geneva Convention (n 398), art 33; Additional Protocol I (n 399), art 75(2)(d). 403 Fourth Geneva Convention (n 398), art 55; Additional Protocol I (n 399), art 54(1). 404 Fourth Geneva Convention (n 398), art 47; Additional Protocol I (n 399), art 75(2)(a). 87 Chapter Article 44 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits detaining powers from treating refugees who do not enjoy the protection of any government as enemy aliens,398 and the First Additional Protocol to the Fourth Geneva Convention establishes refugees as protected persons under all circumstances.399 While refugees are thus granted special protections under international humanitarian law (IHL), the same is not true for IDPs. IHL has not established a binding legal instrument that enforces entitlement specifically for IDPs, though it does provide general protections from a wide range of risks that IDPs often face by prohibiting, inter alia, the forcible transfer or deportation of protected persons from an occupied territory;400 direct or indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian objects;401 collective punishment;402 starvation of solders use Palestinian childen as humancivilians as a tactic of warfare;403 and willful killing Israeli shield, West Bank, 2017 (Source: maannews.net) or torture and inhumane treatment.404 3 The Role of IHL in Protecting Refugees and IDPs