×

Our award-winning reporting has moved

Context provides news and analysis on three of the world’s most critical issues:

climate change, the impact of technology on society, and inclusive economies.

Africa plans landmark convention on internal refugees

by Emma Batha | @emmabatha | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Friday, 26 June 2009 11:59 GMT

African countries are set to adopt a ground-breaking convention providing rights to millions of people forced to flee their homes because of conflict.

Africa has some 12 million internally displaced people (IDPs) who have been uprooted within their own country. Unlike refugees - people who have fled to another country - IDPs benefit from little or no protection.

The convention, the brainchild of the African Union, will for the first time provide them with similar rights to refugees, according to a draft seen by AlertNet.

United Nations refugee chief Antonio Guterres welcomed the initiative and hoped other regions would follow suit.

"This will be the first international legally binding instrument in relation to internal displacement and we hope that this can become an example to be followed in other parts of the world," he told AlertNet.

"We are talking about ... a full range or rights that up to a certain extent are similar to those granted by the 1951 (U.N.) convention to refugees when they live in a foreign country."

The African Union, which groups 53 countries, expects the convention to be adopted at a special summit on refugees and IDPs opening in the Ugandan capital Kampala on Oct. 19.

DARFUR UNDERLINES NEED FOR CHANGE

Although refugees and IDPs have often fled their homes for the same reasons, there are crucial differences in how the two groups are treated.

Once they cross an international border, refugees will normally receive food, shelter and a place of safety. They are protected by international laws and have a specialist U.N. agency to help them.

By contrast, IDPs remain at the mercy of their government, which may view them as enemies of the state. They may also fall prey to rebels and militias operating inside or outside camps.

The draft convention obliges states to prevent displacement and bans the use of displacement as a method of warfare or for collective punishment.

Signatories are required to protect IDPs' human rights and prevent war crimes, arbitrary killing and detention, abduction, torture, rape, slavery and the recruitment of child soldiers.

IDP Action, a London-based campaign group, said the situation in Sudan's Darfur region, where some 2.7 million are displaced, highlighted the urgent need for the convention.

It said displaced Darfuris were often attacked by government and rebels, with women raped and children recruited to fight.

IDP Action director Jeremy Smith said Khartoum's expulsion of 13 international aid groups this year would also contravene the convention which obliges states to facilitate access for humanitarian agencies.

Africa is home to around half the world's IDPs. Smith said the number of displaced in five African countries alone - Sudan, Congo, Uganda, Algeria and Somalia - was greater than the global total of refugees.

"The number and plight of IDPs in Africa is a scandal," he added.

"(The convention) sends a potentially hugely significant signal to the rest of the world that Africa takes the issue of internal displacement very seriously."

But Smith said he was concerned that the convention was too vague on the subject of monitoring and compliance.

What the draft convention says:

  • Very broadly, the convention would oblige states to prevent displacement in the first place, to protect IDPs during displacement and to provide durable solutions.
  • The convention obliges states to prevent displacement in conflict "unless the security of the civilians or imperative military reasons so demand".
  • It bans the use of displacement as a method of warfare or for collective punishment.
  • Signatories are required to protect IDPs' human rights and prevent war crimes, arbitrary killing, summary execution, arbitrary detention, abduction, torture, rape, slavery and the recruitment of child soldiers.
  • They must investigate and punish acts of arbitrary displacement that amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity.
  • Signatories bear primary responsibility for providing humanitarian assistance.
  • Where they do not have the means to do provide adequate assistance they must seek the help of international organisations and humanitarian agencies.
  • They must facilitate rapid access by aid organisations, and they must respect the neutrality and independence of humanitarian workers.
  • Signatories should not force people to return to areas they have fled, but allow them to decide whether to return, integrate locally or relocate.
  • They must establish a legal framework to provide compensation where appropriate for damage and losses incurred as a result of displacement.
  • They must ensure IDPs are issued with relevant documents needed to exercise their rights, such as passports, birth and marriage certificates.
  • Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

    -->