In addressing the problem of militarization, several recommendations have been made over the years. It is not always possible to locate camps in a deliberate way. Refugees often choose to set up their own camps close to the border to facilitate return or to monitor the situation in their home region, and then it is difficult to relocate them. An example is the case of Guinea in 1998, when Sierra Leonean refugees crossed the border and settled in areas that were very difficult to access. Responsibility for the physical security of camps is that of host government, but many government lack both the will and capacity to provide this security.
Combatants are easily able to shed their weapons and uniforms in order to enter the camps.
Exclusion must be done with care to ensure human rights, i.e. we must be sure those only combatants and other guilty of genocide, or crimes against humanity or serious violations of international humanitarian law are excluded. But this careful separation is difficult to accomplish. One of the problems in ensuring the humanitarian character of camps is that the responsibility for doing this is either unclear or not well accepted. The next section sets out the relevant actors involved in camps, and discusses their respective roles in ensuring camp security. In principle, host states should deploy police or army forces in and around camps to ensure security.