African countries sign convention on internally displaced

Oct 23, 2009, 13:53 GMT

Kampala/Geneva - African heads of state and their representatives on Friday signed a groundbreaking convention on internally displaced people, refugees and returnees, at the end of a five-day continental summit on refugees in Uganda.

'The heads of state present have signed the convention and the seventeen representatives of countries have signed,' Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni told the summit. 'I would like to encourage other member states to ratify the convention.'

The signatories represented only half of the member states on the continent.

Nonetheless, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay welcomed the treaty, which is the first to enshrine the rights of internally displaced people.

'The endorsement of the Convention on the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa marks a significant step forward in filling the unfortunate vacuum that has traditionally been the lot of internally displaced people,' she said.

'It is very good to see Africa taking a leadership role in creating the first legally-binding instrument to protect and assist internally displaced persons across the continent.'

According to the UN, close to half of the world's 26 million internally displaced people are in Africa, fleeing conflicts and natural disasters in countries such as Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan.

The convention is aimed at promoting regional and national measures to eliminate the root causes of internal displacement and provide for durable solutions, Pillay said.

Zambian President Rupiah Banda told the summit: 'We have laid the focus on the plight of refugees, returnees and the internally displaced in Africa. The convention addresses the rights of the displaced.'

'The root causes of refugees and other displaced are political unrest caused by repressive governments, tribalism and other political wrangles ... we need to encourage tolerate and good governance.'