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African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2017

Abstract

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Type
International Legal Materials
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 2010

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Footnotes

*

Andrew Solomon is a Foreign Policy Fellow at the Brookings Institution, where he also serves as Deputy Director of the Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement and supports the mandate of the United Nations Representative of the Secretary General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons.

References

Endnotes

* This text was reproduced and reformatted from the text available in the Africa Union website (visited January 7, 2010) http://www.africa-union.org/root/ar/index/AU-IDP%20Convention%20-%20Assembly%20-%20Final%20-%2010.23%20pm%2023%20Oct.doc.

1 For authoritative statistics on the numbers of refugees and internally displaced persons around the world and in Africa, see United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 2008 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, and Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons, June 16, 2009; and Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, Internal Displacement: Global Overview of Trends and Developments in 2008, April 2009.

2 The adoption of the Convention at the Kampala Summit was the culmination of a five-year, African-led process of consultations, drafting, and negotiations that can be traced to a July 2004 decision of the African Union’s Executive Council that IDPs in Africa should be provided with an adequate protection framework at the regional level.

3 United Nations, Guiding Principles on Internally Displaced Persons, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1998/53/Add.2.

4 African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons art. 2, Oct. 23, 2009, available at http://www.africa-union.org/root/ar/index/AU-IDP%20Convention%20-%20Assembly%20-%20Final%20-%2010.23%20pm%2023%20Oct.doc [hereinafter AU Convention].

5 Id. art. 5.1.

6 See Francis M. Deng et al., Sovereignty As Responsibility: Conflict Management in Africa (1996). See also Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement, Addressing Internal Displacement: A Frameworkfor National Responsibility (2005), available at http://www.brookings.edu/fp/projects/idp/20050401_nrframework.pdf.

7 See, e.g., Council of Europe, Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers to Member States on Internally Displaced Persons, Rec(2006)6, 5 April 2006; and Organization of American States, General Assembly Resolution on Internally Displaced Persons, AG/RES. 2508 (XXXIX-0/09), 4 June 2009.

8 International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, Protocol on the Protection and Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons, 30 November 2006.

9 AU Convention art. 4.

10 Id. art. 10.

11 Id. art. 3.

12 Id. art. 11.

13 Id. arts. 4.1, 4.2.

14 Id. art. 4.

15 Id. art. 3(h).

16 Id. art. 3.2 (c).

17 Id. art. 3.2 (b), (c), and (d).

18 Id. art. 12.

19 Statement of UN Representative of the Secretary General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons at the African Union Special Summit on Refugee, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons in Africa, African Union Convention on Protection and Assistance for Internally Displaced Persons in Africa, Oct. 23, 2009, available at http://www.brookings.edu/speeches/2009/1023_internal_displacement_kalin.aspx.

20 The following countries signed the AU Convention on October 23, 2009 at the Kampala Summit: Burundi, Central African Republic, Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Liberia, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Countries that signed the AU Convention following the Summit include: Cote d’Ivoire (Nov. 12, 2009), Mali (Nov. 23, 2009), and Togo (Dec. 24, 2009). For a current list of countries that have signed and ratified/acceded to the AU Convention, see http://www.unhcrrlo.org/Conference_Special_Events/AUSpecialSummit.html.