Access to Justice for Internally Displaced Persons: The Global Legal Order

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leah Ndimurwimo ◽  
Leonard Opara
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
Internal Displacement ◽  
Teaching Methodology ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Internally Displaced Persons ◽  
Economic Assistance ◽  
Displaced Persons ◽  
Internally Displaced

Internally displaced persons are people who are uprooted from their social, economic, cultural and educational environment and made squatters or homeless within the jurisdiction of their own country. They consequently have no permanent place of abode. Internal displacement therefore becomes a situation that deprives individuals of access to justice and leads to violations of the human rights of categories of citizens. For example, women, children and the elderly are more vulnerable and lack social-economic assistance from their loved ones and family support because of their internal displacement. Their situation denies them access to justice from several perspectives, such as being in a state of despair, instability and uncertainty. This article examines the ways in which the domestication of the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa of 2009 (the Kampala Convention) and clinical legal education can be used to promote access for internally displaced persons to justice and basic human rights. In this regard, the article further analyses access to justice for internally displaced persons through the teaching methodology of clinical legal education in African legal jurisprudence. Finally, the article recommends the involvement of legal clinicians and other practitioners as advocates of internally displaced persons’ access to justice, respect for human rights and the rule of law as a requirement for the domestication of the Kampala Convention by Member States in Africa.

In Lieu of a Travaux Préparatoires: A Commentary on the Kampala Convention for IDPs

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 349-378
Author(s):  
J O Moses Okello
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Public Domain ◽  
The Body ◽  
Internal Displacement ◽  
Internally Displaced Persons ◽  
Displaced Persons ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Internally Displaced ◽  
The Public ◽  
Personal Involvement

Abstract The Kampala Convention was adopted on 23 October 2009 and came into force on 4 January 2013. The first binding international instrument for the protection and assistance of internally displaced persons, it occupies an important space among the body of African regional humanitarian and human rights law. The Convention addresses all stages of internal displacement and provides a framework for coordinating activities by governments and humanitarian actors aimed at preventing and addressing internal displacement. The Kampala Convention is the result of many years of work, although no formal records of its drafting and negotiation were kept. This article contributes towards addressing this gap. Based on the author’s personal involvement in the Convention’s drafting, and supplementing earlier research, this article shares information previously unavailable in the public domain and provides a commentary on some of the Convention’s provisions.

Codification of international rules on internally displaced persons: An area where both human rights and humanitarian law considerations are being taken into account

1998 ◽  
Vol 38 (324) ◽  
pp. 463-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert K. Goldman
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Internal Displacement ◽  
Internally Displaced Persons ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Displaced Persons ◽  
Internally Displaced ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Guiding Principles ◽  
Executive Boards

This past April the Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on Internally Displaced Persons, Francis M. Deng, presented to the UN Commission on Human Rights, at its 54th session, a report with an addendum entitled Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (hereinafter “Guiding Principles”). The Commission adopted by consensus a resolution co-sponsored by more than 50 States which, inter alia, took note of the decision of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee welcoming the Guiding Principles and encouraging its members to share them with their Executive Boards, and also of Mr. Deng's stated intention to make use of these principles in his dialogue with governments and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. These principles are an important milestone in the process of establishing a generally accepted normative framework for the protection of the estimated 20 to 25 million internally displaced persons worldwide.

scholarly journals Appraisal of the Role of Law Clinics in Internally Displaced Persons and Refugee Camps in Nigeria

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 29-42
Author(s):  
Maryam Idris Abdulkadir
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Internally Displaced Persons ◽  
Displaced Persons ◽  
Lake Chad ◽  
Internally Displaced ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
The Government

The crises from the northeastern part of Nigeria and neighbouring countries especially around the Lake Chad region (Cameroun and Chad) have created a lot of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees in the country. This has led to creation of such camps that are scattered all over the country, that is, in the North East, South, South East and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. A lot of humanitarian crises occur in such camps, the most disturbing of which is a violation of certain fundamental human rights, like right to liberty and right to dignity, exploitation and sexual assault. This has led to the creation of Refugee and IDP camps. This article examined the role that law clinics can play in addressing the legal issues highlighted. The history and development of legal education in Nigeria and how it gave birth to law clinics was traced. Moreover, the causes of creation of refugee and IDP camps were discussed. The article recommends that law clinics, through social justice, access to justice and client interview, can play a tremendous role in addressing the legal problems faced by the inhabitants of the camps, and this will also help achieve one of the learning outcomes of the course which deals with humanitarian law. The article further states that the presence/role of law clinics will not only benefit the students of the law clinic and the inhabitants of the camps but also benefit the Federal Government of Nigeria through data collection and statistics from these camps, and it will be a means for the government to curtail human rights violation in such areas.

The African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention)

2013 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 397-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Asplet ◽  
Megan Bradley
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Internal Displacement ◽  
Internally Displaced Persons ◽  
African Union ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Displaced Persons ◽  
Internally Displaced ◽  
Sub Saharan

Known as the Kampala Convention, the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa is the first regional treaty to comprehensively address the issue of internal displacement. Having entered into force with its fifteenth ratification on December 6, 2012, the Convention tackles a major humanitarian, human rights, and development issue for the African continent, as there are more than 9.7 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in sub-Saharan Africa alone. The treaty builds on the 1998 Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, integrating international human rights and humanitarian law norms as they relate to internal displacement, and incorporating principles from African regional standards such as the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the Great Lakes Protocol. While rooted in these standards, the Convention also reflects recent developments and the evolution of best practice regarding IDP protection. In so doing, the Convention advances the normative standard on internal displacement in a number of important areas, including in terms of the prohibition on arbitrary displacement; the responsibilities of international and regional organizations; internal displacement linked to the effects of climate change; and remedies for those affected by displacement.

scholarly journals International legal framework for the protection of internally displaced persons

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 203-208
Author(s):  
A. Sheludchenkova ◽  
O. Spector ◽  
A. Derkach
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Internal Displacement ◽  
Internally Displaced Persons ◽  
Displaced Persons ◽  
Internally Displaced ◽  
Internally Displaced People ◽  
Or Groups ◽  
Displaced People

The author defines the notion of the internally displaced people, analyses the reasons of their appearance and compares the internally displaced people and refugees’ legal status. Internally Displaced Persons were defined in 1992 by the Commission on Human rights as “Persons or groups who have been forced to flee their homes suddenly or unexpectedly in large numbers, as a result of armed conflict, internal strife, systematic violations of human rights or natural or man-made disaster, and who are within the territory of their own country”. There is no universal legally binding instrument for protecting and assisting internally displaced persons. The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement were recognized by the UN General Assembly are not of a binding character.

Regionalizing Protection: au and asean Responses to Mass Atrocity Crimes against Internally Displaced Persons

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 295-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phil Orchard
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Internal Displacement ◽  
Internally Displaced Persons ◽  
Displaced Persons ◽  
Internally Displaced ◽  
Robust Implementation ◽  
Mass Atrocity ◽  
Guiding Principles ◽  
Enforcement Mechanisms ◽  
Atrocity Crimes

Forcible displacement can constitute a mass atrocity crime. This is something that is considered within the non-binding Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. Efforts to implement the Guiding Principles at the regional level suggest one path to implement stronger legal protections for internally displaced persons (idps), in particular, against mass atrocity crimes. These regional processes, however, can vary in remarkable ways. In the African Union, the Kampala Convention has brought the Guiding Principles and protections against mass atrocity crimes directed at idps into regional hard law; it also includes robust implementation and enforcement mechanisms. At this stage, however, these mechanisms remain anticipatory rather than effective; consequently international assistance will be vital to entrench the rights anchored in the Convention. By contrast, asean has introduced no overt protections for idps. However, its developing legal human rights framework through the asean Declaration of Human Rights, coupled with the Association’s response to the Rohingya idp crisis in Myanmar, suggests that a policy-focused change, while incremental, may be happening.

scholarly journals Internal Displaced Persons (IDPs): A Case Study of Western Nepal

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 48-52
Author(s):  
Sabin Bahadur Zoowa
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Internal Displacement ◽  
Internally Displaced Persons ◽  
Displaced Persons ◽  
Habitual Residence ◽  
Internally Displaced ◽  
The People ◽  
Maoist Insurgency

In Nepal, the number of IDPs appeared to have increased mainly due to the decade long CPN (Maoist) insurgency that hit the country since 2052 BS (1995 AD). Apparently, the IDPs are compelled or forced to undergo the critical circumstances due to the very condition of their displacement. Likewise, mostly, the incidents of excesses such as murder, torture, rape, sexual assault, kidnapping, forceful recruitment in the army are perpetrated against the IDPs. So, different causes make the people to be displaced. Towards this, natural disaster, human-made circumstances and disasters, armed conflict and situation of violence and fears having created there from, persons and families are forcefully displaced from their homes or places of their habitual residence. Hence, the fact is that internally displaced persons are compelled to spend traumatic lives because of internal displacement and at the same time various new problems are, owing to pressure of displaced persons, arising even in the places where they are spending displaced lives. Therefore, the state is required to play a lead role to prevent internal displacement, provide security to displaced persons, protect human rights, make provisions for immediate relief and necessary humanitarian support and service as well as facility and also make appropriate provisions for their return to their place of habitual residence or settling them voluntarily in other places in the country.

Reconciling R2P with IDP Protection

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International System ◽  
Internal Displacement ◽  
Internally Displaced Persons ◽  
Displaced Persons ◽  
Large Measure ◽  
Internally Displaced ◽  
Military Action ◽  
Limited Application ◽  
Coercive Intervention

AbstractAlthough R2P developed in large measure from efforts to design an international system to protect internally displaced persons (IDPs), its application may not always work to the benefit of displaced persons. Challenges have arisen, most notably R2P's limited application, the narrowness of its scope, the exclusion of disaster IDPs, the sidelining of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, the tensions between human rights and humanitarian goals, R2P's equation with military action and the limits of coercive intervention. To ensure that IDPs gain from this landmark concept, special strategies will be needed to reconcile R2P with IDP protection.

scholarly journals The Normative Influence of the UN Guiding Principles on the Kampala Convention in the Protection of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Francis M Deng ◽  
Romola Adeola
Keyword(s):  
Internal Displacement ◽  
Internally Displaced Persons ◽  
African Union ◽  
Displaced Persons ◽  
Political Commitment ◽  
Internally Displaced ◽  
General Terms ◽  
African Context ◽  
Guiding Principles ◽  
Made In

Abstract Over the last several decades, states have demonstrated significant political commitment towards advancing protection and assistance for internally displaced persons. A notable form in which this commitment has been reflected is in the emergence of normative standards, with the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (UNGP) as the guiding text. The fact that the UNGP framework has found expression in the landscape on internal displacement is evidenced at various levels of governance. Within the African context, the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention) draws on pertinent normative frameworks, with the UNGP as the leading framework. While this point is often made in general terms, this article focuses on the extent to which the norm on internal displacement has diffused and expanded within the African context.

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