The objective of this article is to provide an analysis of the international norms applicable to internally displaced persons. Even though, internally displaced persons are responsibility of the country of which they are nationals, international instruments have been created to address their situation. This analytic study is divided into two parts. The first part addresses the international instruments of soft law for the protection of these persons, it focus particularly in Guiding Principles on internal displacement. The second part concentrates in the hard law that has been adopted by the African continent in a regional level, and by domestic legislation in the Colombian case.