On 6 December 2012, the African Union (AU) celebrated the entry into force of the AU Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa, also known as the Kampala Convention. The Convention was endorsed in 2009 at an AU Special Summit in Kampala, Uganda and signed by 31 of the 53 member states of the African Union. Thus far, 16 states have ratified the treaty.
The Kampala Convention is the second legally binding instrument pertaining to internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Africa following the Protocol on the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons to the Pact on Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region that was agreed in 2008. However, it is the first with a continental reach.
The AU Convention applies to displacement whether caused by armed conflict or natural or human-made disasters, including climate change. The objectives of the Convention include mitigating the causes of displacement, including through establishing early warning systems and taking measures to reduce disaster risks. It also sets out the obligation of states to protect and assist internally displaced persons “by meeting their basic needs as well as allowing and facilitating rapid and unimpeded access by humanitarian organizations and personnel” and to ensure durable solutions. The treaty establishes that member states that are not in a position to meet the humanitarian needs of IDPs are expected to seek out and facilitate international assistance. It also provides that humanitarian organizations must abide by humanitarian principles, international standards and codes of conduct. In addition to access to humanitarian assistance, the Convention sets out a comprehensive set of protection issues, such as non-discrimination, freedom of movement and sexual and gender based violence, and obliges States Parties to take measures ensuring the protection of IDPs in these respects.
According to H.E Mull S. Katende, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Uganda in Addis Ababa, speaking on behalf of the AUC’s Sub-Committee on Refugees, IDPs and Returnees, ´... this is one of the many stages towards addressing and resolving issues of displacement in Africa. For wider acceptability and responsibility, we need more signatures and ratifications of the Convention. Even more, we need to implement the Convention that has come into effect, including serious address of the root causes of forced displacement.´ To this end, the African Union has developed a Model Act for the implementation of the Kampala Convention by the States Parties. Where the Convention obliges its parties to take the necessary steps to allow rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief items, equipment and personnel intended to the assistance to IDPs, the IFRC’s Model Act for the Facilitation and Regulation of International Disaster Relief and Recovery Assistance may be a useful tool.