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Kampala,
Uganda, October 24, 2009 – The African Union (AU) adopted a convention
on Friday that obliges member states to protect and help millions of
people uprooted within their own countries because of conflict and
natural disasters.
Africa is home to almost half the world's internally displaced people (IDPs)
with 12 million, most of them sheltering in ramshackle camps,
shantytowns or among local communities.
Unlike refugees, who have fled to another country and have a global U.N.
agency dedicated to protecting their rights, IDPs benefit from little or
no protection.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who hosted an AU summit in Kampala on
the issue, hailed the pact as an "historic agreement aimed at protecting
and assisting our brothers and sisters, the internally displaced".
Five heads of states and officials from a number of other AU members
signed the convention on Friday, which still needs ratification by the
individual countries. Museveni called on AU states to ratify the pact,
which needs 15 of the AU's 53 members to do so it before it comes into
force.
The convention, which integrates the main aspects of international
humanitarian law, would oblige AU states for the first time to prevent
displacement, come up with solutions to the causes of displacement and
provide IDPs with basic rights.
Signatories on Friday included Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and
Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, the president of Somalia -- which has Africa's
third largest IDP population after Sudan and Democratic Republic of
Congo.
Aid officials and civil society groups have praised the AU for
addressing a problem that is an obstacle to development and stability --
and for producing the first legally-binding agreement on internal
displacement with a continental scope.
"This instrument clearly demonstrates that African leaders are conscious
of the difficulties that displaced persons experience and are poised to
as much as possible to put an end to their suffering," said AU
Commissioner for Political Affairs Julia Joiner.
She urged leaders to "turn intention into action" and said
implementation of the convention was key to its success.
Under the convention, states that are unable to assist IDPs can seek
help from humanitarian organizations. Delegates to the summit said
international aid agencies may use that as leverage to increase pressure
on AU states to ratify the pact.
Delegates also said the convention underwent last-minute changes to an
article on the obligations of rebels to IDPs after several countries,
including Zimbabwe, raised concerns that the original wording gave
legitimacy to such groups.
Source: Reuters, Oct 23, 2009
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