Dear colleague,
African civil society organizations and experts met in Kampala,
Uganda, from 19-20 October 2009 on the margins of the AU Special
Summit on Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced persons. Issues
discussed included statelessness and nationality rights, which have
been both a cause and consequence of forced displacement and
discrimination in Africa.
The session recognised that effective citizenship is a doorway to
accessing other rights, including for refugees and the displaced. In
this context, it was noted that the right to nationality needed to be
promoted as a mechanism both to prevent and to respond to displacement
on the continent.
Please see the full text below. You may also read the full text on the
CRAI website: http://www.citizenshiprightsinafrica.org/.
Best regards,
Dismas, Deirdre, Olivia and Karin
on behalf of CRAI
Karin van der Tak
Communications and Outreach Associate
866 United Nations Plaza
Suite 4018
New York, NY 10017
Email: [log in to unmask]
Web: www.refugee-rights.org
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Recommendations of the Civil Society Meeting on African Union
mechanisms and the Protection of Refugee, IDP and Citizenship Rights
19-20 October 2009
African civil society organizations and experts met in Kampala,
Uganda, from 19-20 October 2009 on the margins of the AU Special
Summit on Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced persons. Issues
discussed included statelessness and nationality rights, which have
been both a cause and consequence of forced displacement and
discrimination in Africa.
The session recognised that effective citizenship is a doorway to
accessing other rights, including for refugees and the displaced. In
this context, it was noted that the right to nationality needed to be
promoted as a mechanism both to prevent and to respond to displacement
on the continent.
The session addressed the following recommendations to the Heads of
State attending the special summit:
Root causes of displacement
1. African governments should take urgent measures to address the root
causes of displacement, including poor governance, underdevelopment,
human rights violations, climate change and lack of preparedness for
natural catastrophes.
2. Conflict remains the principal direct cause of displacement in
Africa. Most conflicts are rooted in power struggles between the
elites of various ethnic communities. To address these, it is
imperative that African governments pursue inclusive policies to
ensure equality of opportunity and equitable development for all
irrespective of ethnic identities. Ethnicity should not be the basis
for the grant or refusal of any right.
3. The threat of natural disasters associated with climate change must
also be urgently addressed. While all Africans stand to lose,
refugees, IDPs and stateless persons are particularly vulnerable to
the consequences climate change. Early warning and preparedness
strategies must be put in place.
4. Inequitable management of rights to land is another critical issue
at the root of forced displacement. States should take steps to ensure
that access to land is not based on ethnicity or race but is open to
all on an equitable basis. In addition, alternative modes of
sustaining livelihoods need to be created in order to remove pressure
on land.
5. Africa’s leaders and people should work towards the expression of a
new vision of nationality and belonging that overcomes the divisions
of the colonial past and rigid insistence on an intrinsic link between
ethnicity and the right to land and to nationality. A vision which
creates a forward-looking definition in law and policy that welcomes
as members of the national community all who have a contribution to
make to its development.
Mass expulsions
6. African states should respect the provisions of Article 12(5) of
the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights prohibiting mass
expulsions, which are a major cause of displacement and of
statelessness.
Draft Convention on IDPs
7. We welcome African leaders’ commitment to addressing the crisis of
forced displacement in Africa through the adoption of the Draft
African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance to
Internally Displaced Persons (AU IDP Convention) and urge its rapid
ratification and implementation.
8. States should immediately show their commitment to its provisions
by putting in place mechanisms that will advise and monitor government
compliance with the Convention and ensure that it is implemented at
regional and national levels. This might include reinforcement of the
capacity of existing mechanisms such as the African Commission on
Human and Peoples' Rights and the Committee of Experts on the Rights
and Welfare of the Child.
9. We welcome in particular Article 9 of the Draft AU IDP Convention
(which addresses displacement caused by development projects), and
urge that states ensure that projects which may cause displacement in
the name of development are debated fully with the participation of
all and that such projects are only implemented if beneficial to the
affected communities.
Enforcement of existing international and African standards
10. African states’ national laws, practices and systems related to
forced displacement, citizenship and statelessness should be brought
into line with existing international and regional conventions.
11. In particular, African states should ratify and implement the 1954
UN Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961
UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. Few have done so to
date.
12. Enforcement of international obligations should be strengthened
through domestic and regional courts, the African Commission and
African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (and the African Court of
Justice and Human Rights when it comes into force) and other
mechanisms such as the African Peer Review Mechanism.
Statelessness
13. African states should grant nationality to their own peoples in an
inclusive way, without discrimination on grounds of race, ethnicity,
national origin, gender, political opinion or similar category. In
particular, nationality laws should give men and women equal rights in
relation to the right to pass nationality to their spouses and children.
14. The AU should prioritise the challenges of statelessness and
establish mechanisms to address statelessness, in particular with
regards to:
* ethnic groups living in border regions, nomadic populations,
speakers of minority languages,
* the descendants of long-term migrant populations,
* people of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity parentage, especially where
only the mother and not the father is a national of the country of
residence.
15. Stateless people should be treated as one of the vulnerable groups
in Africa and afforded protection as such.
16. The right to a nationality should be enshrined in Africa’s
constitutions and national laws.
17. A person’s nationality may not be taken away except on the basis
of objective criteria following due process of law and may never be
taken away if the person would therefore become stateless.
18. African states should enshrine these principles in a treaty on
nationality and statelessness in Africa and urgently put in place a
process to develop such a treaty.
Protection measures at national level
19. African states that ratify the Convention on IDPs should
domesticate it into national laws, policies and plans of action and
institutional and funding mechanisms to ensuring implementation.
20. National legislation should explicitly outline measures for
protection and assistance of displaced persons with special needs such
as the separated and unaccompanied children, female and child headed
households, expectant mothers, the elderly and persons with disability
for purposes of ensuring that the most vulnerable groups are targeted.
21. As a first step, state governments should establish an effective
system of registration, screening and documentation of IDPs, refugees
and returnees for authentication and early identification of such
vulnerable groups. Documentation granted to IDPs and refugees should
facilitate their free movement.
22. As a first step, state governments should establish an effective
system of registration, screening and documentation of IDPs, refugees
and returnees for early identification of the needs of such
populations and vulnerable groups. Documentation granted to IDPs and
refugees should facilitate their free movement.
23. The urgency of effective responses to the threats posed by natural
disasters, climate change and other threats to our environmental
security and as a cause of displacement cannot be overstated.
Responses are inadequate. Governments need to move beyond early
warning to rapid response in order to mitigate environmental threats
and the resultant humanitarian disasters.
24. As governments respond to the challenges presented by large scale
displacement, including the management of the environmental impact of
large scale migrations, it was noted that policies which force
concentration of refugees and IDPs in particular areas, restricting
freedom of movement, may exacerbate negative environmental impacts and
should be approached with caution and may be in contradiction of other
fundamental rights.
25. We welcome the recognition in the draft Convention of the
importance of involvement of host communities in integration
programmes for displaced persons. Host communities should be
made aware of the plight of the displaced at an early stage in order
to avoid tensions and potential conflict between the two groups.
26. States should take measures to ensure the equitable right of
access to land for persons who have been displaced and are returning
home.
27. States have an obligation to urgently address xenophobic violence
against migrants and refugees, taking appropriate action within the
law against those who perpetrate crimes against foreigners.
Solidarity
28. African states should show solidarity with other states that are
confronted by natural disasters or the massive displacement of
populations.
Birth registration
29. African states should put in place comprehensive laws and
effective systems for birth registration to ensure an explicit and
unqualified right to an identity, nationality, and citizenship. In
creating these systems, states should be sensitive to the value and
traditional role or oral systems of identification. This will lead to
the fulfilment and enjoyment of fundamental rights and freedoms
accorded to citizens.
Regional integration and citizenship
30. African states should accelerate the process of creating regional
citizenships and seize the opportunities presented by regional
economic integration as creating potential pathways for accessing
citizenship rights.
31. African states should take steps to ensure that all their
nationals, irrespective of status, can vote in national elections,
including those who may be incarcerated or living abroad.
32. African states should grant the right to vote to nationals of
other member states of regional communities (especially in local
elections).
33. African states should facilitate the access of their own citizens
and others in their territories to regional citizenships and
facilitate the recognition of travel documents granted on that basis.
The following recommendations were directed to our colleagues in civil
society:
34. Civil society should be pro-active and engage the state at an
early stage to ensure implementation of the convention and to promote
refugee, IDP and citizenship rights in national legislative and policy
frameworks.
35. Legal frameworks and policies formulated to protect the rights of
IDPs, refugees and returnees should be participatory and inclusive of
all stakeholders as a durable solution, sustainability and ownership
of the entire process. An all African Civil Society Conference should
be organized to draft a comprehensive policy towards the protection
and promotion of the rights of IDPs, refugees and returnees.
36. Civil society engagement on statelessness and a right to a
nationality needs to be increased and targeted effectively.
37. Civil society should work collaboratively. Civil society needs to
form strategic partnerships in order to be more effective in advocacy,
in particular, engagement with national, sub-regional and regional
parliamentarian and the media in order to advance causes of national
concern.
38. Civil society should engage with, and work to reinforce, existing
African regional mechanisms including the African Union Commission,
the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and the Committee
of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.
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