New deal for Africa's Internally Displaced

A new convention to protect and assist the millions of Africans who are internally displaced has been drawn up by the African Union meeting in Kampala. Whereas the rights of people who flee across national boundaries as refugees are protected there has been no international legislation catering specifically for people displaced within their own country (IDPs). If ratified experts say it will fill a void in international humanitarian law.

IDPs vastly outnumber refugees in Africa: in just 10 of the 18 countries in east and central Africa, there are more than 10 million IDPs (OCHA), with Sudan (four million), the Democratic Republic of Congo (2.12 million) and Somalia (1.55 million) heading the list. In the same region, there are refugees in 16 countries totalling some two million.

This latest deal was signed by 17 African states at the end of summit on 23 October and obliges governments to recognize that IDPs have specific vulnerabilities and must be supported.

"The crucial challenge now is ensuring that once the convention is signed and ratified by as many states as possible, it is actually implemented and respected,” said President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Jakob Kellenberger.

To become a binding document, the convention now has to be ratified by 15 of the African Union's 53 member states.

"It is the responsibility of member states that the convention becomes a binding instrument," Jean Ping, AU Commission President, said. "At this point, it is an achievement, but not an end in itself."

The convention emphasizes the sovereignty of member states but spells out the obligations and responsibilities of armed groups. Among others, it prohibits armed groups from carrying our arbitrary displacement, recruiting children and impeding humanitarian assistance.

The basic question of impunity also needs to be addressed. Until African countries learn to respect the law, participants said, the continent would "remain at rock bottom" in its attempts to address the problems of the displaced.

Antonio Guterres, head of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and representative of the UN Secretary-General at the summit, said solving the question of displacement in Africa required political solutions.

"There is no humanitarian solution to conflict," he explained. "The solution is always political."