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Urge Congress to amend the Stafford Act

Tell your Representatives and Senators to amend the Stafford Act to bring it in line with the United Nations Guiding Principles for Internally Displaced Persons. Although the IDP Guidelines are not binding, they are based on existing instruments of international human rights and humanitarian law and should be recognized by the U.S. government as the appropriate framework for helping internally displaced persons within its borders.

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Dear (recipient name),

I am writing to urge you to amend the Stafford Act to bring it in line with the United Nations Guiding Principles for Internally Displaced Persons.
 
The Stafford Act currently places the responsibility of disaster recovery on state and local governments which are ill equipped to deal with catastrophic natural disasters. Internally displaced individuals (IDPs) are not legally entitled to humanitarian assistance or help with either returning to their residences or resettling. There is no right to housing, education and healthcare; such assistance from the government is discretionary. Furthermore, IDP’s are only protected from intentionally discriminatory government actions, and not those which have discriminatory impact.

As the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina showed us, IDPs are not adequately protected by current laws. Using the IDP Guidelines as a framework would ensure protection of the human rights of people who are displaced within the US by offering protection from forced displacement and protection to IDPs at all stages of displacement: during displacement (including humanitarian assistance) and in the return, resettlement and reintegration processes. The U.S. Agency of International Development has recognized that the Guiding Principles are a useful framework for dealing with IDPs; please help ensure that these same principles which are used abroad also benefit people displaced within the U.S.

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