Introduction The issue of the world’s refugees and internally displaced persons is one of the most complicated issues of the world. The United Nations High Commission of Refugee (UNHCR) continuously searches for more effective ways to protect and assist vulnerable groups. While there are some call for more cooperation and coordination among relief agencies, there are also other call that points gaps in international legislation and appeal for more standard-setting in this area. However, everyone agrees that the issue is both multidimensional and international. Therefore any approach or solution would have to be comprehensive and to address all the angle of issues, from the causes of refugees to the elaboration of responses necessary to cover the types of refugee situations from emergencies to repatriation. This paper will discuss how refugees and internally displaced persons are protected, particularly under the international humanitarian law. Who is a Refugee? According to Article 1 of the 1951 UN Convention “A REFUGEE IS SOMEONE WHO OWING TO A WELL-FOUNDED FEAR OF BEING PERSECUTED FOR REASONS OF RACE, RELIGION, NATIONALITY, MEMBERSHIP OF A PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUP, OR POLITICAL OPINION, IS OUTSIDE THE COUNTRY OF HIS NATIONALITY, AND IS UNABLE TO OR, OWING TO SUCH FEAR, IS UNWILLING TO AVAIL HIMSELF OF THE PROTECTION OF THAT COUNTRY...” (Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees.) Based on this provision, refugees are defined by the following characteristics: People who live outside of their country of origin or outside of their habitual residence. They do not have the ability or not willing to avail themselves of the protection of that country, because of well founded fear of being persecuted. The fear of persecution is based on at least one of the five grounds; race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion (International Refugee Law.) A refugee status is granted to an asylum seeker based on at least one of the above mentioned criteria (International Refugee Law.) There are two different groups of people that are always in move: 1) Refugees that flee war or persecution and they have no protection from their own state or it is their own government that is threatening to persecute them (UNHCR.) 2) Internally displaced persons (IDPs) are often called refugee and these are persons who has similar situation to that of refugees (UNHCR.) To distinguish between refugees and IDPs, there are three differences between IDPs and refugees. First, unlike refugees, IDPs have not crossed an international border, even if they have left their country for similar reasons as refugees; IDPs remain legally under the protection of their own state (ICRC.) Second, IDPs are not the subject of a universal treaty. As citizens, they have all their rights are protected under the human rights and international humanitarian law (ICRC.) Third, the definition of IDPs in the Guiding Principles is those displaced by armed conflict, human rights violations and natural disasters, while the definition of refugees is those with well-founded fear of being persecuted on at least one of the five grounds (ICRC.) How refugees are protected? Refugees are protected by general human rights law. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) provides the main framework for protecting and assisting refugees and mainly the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems (ICRC.) Refugees are also protected by international humanitarian law if they find themselves in a State involved in armed conflict. Aside from the general protection by the IHL to civilia