internally displaced persons in the african human rights system

125 Pages·2016·1.78 MB·English

Faculty of Law
Ghent University

Academic year 2016-2017

INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS IN THE AFRICAN HUMAN
RIGHTS SYSTEM
An Analysis of the Kampala Convention

Master’s thesis
Master of Laws in de Rechten

Submitted by

Ruth Delbaere

(Student ID number: 01100220)

Promoter: Prof. Dr. Yves Haeck
Commissioner: Dr. Salvatore Nicolosi
Acknowledgements
First of all, I would like to thank my promoter, Prof. Dr. Yves Haeck, and my commissioner,
Dr. Salvatore Nicolosi, for their continued help and support.
My experience in Kenya, where I had the incredible opportunity to volunteer at an Internally
Displaced Persons camp, would not have been possible without Networks for Voluntary
Services.
Ms. Elizabeth Rushing and Mr. Jacopo Giorgi at the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
always responded to my questions with great enthusiasm. Thank you to Dr. Cristiano D’Orsi as
well, whom I interviewed in South Africa. Despite their busy schedules, they made time to help
me, which I am very thankful for.
Through Mr. Dirk Verbeke, I had the unique chance and honour to interview Ms. Justine
Ndongo-Keller about her job as a translator at the International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda
and her experience with refugees and IDPs. I was also introduced to Mr. Bart Ouvry, former
Ambassador at the Embassy of Belgium in Nairobi and current Human Rights Director at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Belgium, who granted me an interview as well.
Thank you to everyone who supported me throughout the writing process.
Special thanks to Vera and Carlo Mattheeuws, for everything.
Most of all, thank you to my parents and grandparents who gave me the opportunity to study
and pursue my dreams. I wish my Dad could have read my work.
Table of Contents
List of abbreviations ................................................................................................................... 4
Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 7
1. Objectives and academic contribution ............................................................................... 7
2. Societal contribution ........................................................................................................ 10
3. Empirical research in Kenya ............................................................................................ 12
Chapter 1: Defining Internally Displaced Persons ................................................................... 17
1. The notions of internal displacement and Internally Displaced Persons ...................... 17
A. The defining sources of internal displacement and Internally Displaced Persons ...... 17
B. Key elements of the definitions ................................................................................... 18
2. Internally Displaced Persons and refugees .................................................................... 19
3. Necessity of a separate category for Internally Displaced Persons? ............................. 20
A. Significance of and reasoning behind the prerequisite of border-crossing ................. 20
B. Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 24
4. Causes of internal displacement .................................................................................... 24
A. Conflict and violence ................................................................................................... 25
B. Natural and man-made disasters .................................................................................. 25
C. Development projects .................................................................................................. 27
D. Arbitrary displacement and forced evictions ............................................................... 27
E. Case study: causes of displacement in Kenya.............................................................. 28
Chapter 2: The current state of play of the rights and protection of Internally Displaced Persons
in Sub-Saharan Africa .............................................................................................................. 31
1. Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement ............................................................... 31
A. Origin ........................................................................................................................... 31
B. Content ......................................................................................................................... 32
C. Importance ................................................................................................................... 33
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2. Great Lakes Protocol on the Protection and Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons .
....................................................................................................................................... 33
3. The Kampala Convention: origin and importance ........................................................ 35
4. The Kampala Convention: content ................................................................................ 37
A. Definitions ................................................................................................................... 38
B. Objectives .................................................................................................................... 38
C. Obligations of Member States ..................................................................................... 39
D. Prohibition of arbitrary displacement .......................................................................... 41
E. Obligations of international organisations and humanitarian agencies ....................... 41
F. Obligations of the African Union ................................................................................. 42
G. Obligations related to armed groups ........................................................................... 43
H. Durable solutions and resettlement ............................................................................. 44
I. Compensation ............................................................................................................... 45
5. Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 46
Chapter 3: Implementation, monitoring, enforcement and future improvement of the Kampala
Convention ............................................................................................................................... 47
1. Implementation .............................................................................................................. 47
A. Effective implementation ............................................................................................ 48
B. State responsibility ...................................................................................................... 50
C. Roles of the international community, Non-Governmental Organisations and National
Human Rights Institutions ................................................................................................ 51
2. Monitoring and enforcement ......................................................................................... 53
A. Monitoring mechanisms in the Kampala Convention ................................................. 53
B. Peer pressure and moral obligation ............................................................................. 57
C. (Quasi-)judicial enforcement ....................................................................................... 59
D. Complaint mechanism for Internally Displaced Persons? .......................................... 68
3. Recommendations for future improvements ................................................................. 69
A. Improvements within the United Nations.................................................................... 70
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B. Improvements within the African Union ..................................................................... 73
C. Improvements within countries ................................................................................... 74
D. Recommendations concerning durable solutions to internal displacement ................. 77
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 82
Annexes .................................................................................................................................... 88
1. Countries that have signed, ratified or acceded to the Kampala Convention ............... 88
2. Internal Displacement statistics per African region ...................................................... 89
3. New displacements in Africa associated with violence, conflicts and disasters in 2015 ..
....................................................................................................................................... 90
4. Kampala Convention ..................................................................................................... 91
5. Dutch summary of this thesis ...................................................................................... 105
Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 108

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List of abbreviations
1. Common abbreviations
ACHPR: African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights
ACtHPR: African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights
ACJHR: African Court of Justice and Human Rights
African Charter: African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights
APRM: African Peer Review Mechanism
AU: African Union
AU Assembly: African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government
Great Lakes Protocol: Protocol on the Protection and Assistance to Internally Displaced
Persons, in the Pact on Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region
IASC: Inter-Agency Standing Committee
ICC: International Criminal Court
ICCPR: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
ICESCR: International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
ICRC: International Committee of the Red Cross
IDMC: Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
IDPs: Internally Displaced Persons
IOM: International Organization for Migration
IRRI: International Refugee Rights Initiative
KHRC: Kenya Human Rights Commission
MIT: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
NGO: Non-Governmental Organisation
OAU: Organization of African Unity
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OHCHR: Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
UDHR: Universal Declaration of Human Rights
UN: United Nations
UNHCR: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
UNHRC: United Nations Human Rights Council

2. Abbreviations of scientific journals
Afr. Hum. Rts. L.J.: African Human Rights Law Journal
Afr. J. Int'l & Comp. L.: African Journal of International and Comparative Law
Afr. J. Legal Stud.: African Journal of Legal Studies
Brook. J. Int'l L: Brooklyn Journal of International Law
Conn. J. Int'l L.: Connecticut Journal of International Law
Denv. J. Int'l L. & Pol'y: Denver Journal of International Law & Policy
Foreign Aff.: Foreign Affairs
Geo. J. Int'l L.: Georgetown Journal of International Law
Global Resp. Protect: Global Responsibility to Protect
Hum. Rts. Brief: Human Rights Brief
Hum. Rts. L. Rev.: Human Rights Law Review
Hum. Rts. Q.: Human Rights Quarterly
Int’l. J. Refugee L.: International Journal of Refugee Law
J. Afr. L.: Journal of African Law
J. L. Inf. & Sci.: Journal of Law, Information & Science
Law Democracy & Dev.: Law Democracy & Development
Loy. L.A. Int'l & Comp. L. Rev.: Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law
Review
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Mich. YBI Legal Stud.: Michigan Yearbook of International Legal Studies
Neth. Q. Hum. Rts.: Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights
Refugee Stud.: Journal of Refugee Studies
Rev. quebecoise de droit int'l: Revue quebecoise de droit international
Vand. J. Transnat'l L.: Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
Wake Forest J. L. & Pol'y: Wake Forest Journal of Law & Policy
Wash. U. J. L. & Pol'y: Washington University Journal of Law & Policy

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