Kampala Convention

Kampala Convention The Kampala Convention is a regional treaty adopted by the African Union in Kampala that addresses the protection and assistance of internally displaced persons in Africa, responding to crises such as the Rwandan genocide, the Sudanese Civil Wars, the Libyan Civil War and the Somali Civil War. It builds on earlier instruments like the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement while interacting with actors including United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, International Committee of the Red Cross, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and regional bodies such as the Economic Community of West African States and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development. The Convention frames obligations for Heads of State and Government of the African Union, national ministries, and civil society groups including Médecins Sans Frontières and Norwegian Refugee Council.

Background and Negotiation

Negotiation of the Convention involved multilateral diplomacy among members of the African Union, with preparatory work by the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, the United Nations system and NGOs like International Rescue Committee and Human Rights Watch. Drafting drew on precedents including the Geneva Conventions, the 1951 Refugee Convention, the Great Lakes Protocol on Security, Stability and Development and experience from crises in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Central African Republic. Key negotiation sites and processes included meetings of the African Union Summit, conferences hosted by the Government of Uganda in Kampala, consultations with the European Union and technical input from the Brookings Institution and the ICRC.

Key Provisions

The Convention defines "internally displaced persons" against benchmarks in the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and articulates state duties to prevent displacement, protect persons during displacement and facilitate durable solutions involving returns, local integration or resettlement. It addresses causes of displacement such as armed conflict exemplified by the Darfur conflict, natural hazards linked to Cyclone Idai and development projects like dam constructions in the Nile Basin. The text mandates coordination among national authorities, regional bodies including the African Union Commission and humanitarian actors such as UNHCR, World Food Programme and International Organization for Migration. Provisions cover access to territory and humanitarian assistance, legal remedies through domestic courts and regional mechanisms like the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, and obligations related to prevention of forced displacement and protection from gender-based violence highlighted in instruments like the Maputo Protocol.

Implementation and State Obligations

Implementation requires states parties to adapt national legislation and policies, including through ministries such as domestic affairs and agencies like national human rights commissions modeled after the Commission nationale des droits de l'Homme et des libertés and institutions inspired by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Sierra Leone). States are expected to develop contingency planning with regional frameworks like the African Standby Force and engage international partners such as World Bank, African Development Bank and bilateral donors including the United Kingdom and the United States. Reporting obligations link to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and peer review mechanisms in the African Peer Review Mechanism, while capacity-building is funded by multilateral initiatives involving the European Union External Action Service and the United Nations Development Programme.

Monitoring, Compliance and Enforcement

Monitoring proceeds through the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, complaints to the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights and shadow reporting by NGOs including Amnesty International, Refugees International and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. Compliance tools include country reports to the African Union and possible measures influenced by precedents set in cases before the International Criminal Court and sanctions coordinated by the United Nations Security Council. Enforcement is constrained by state sovereignty doctrines seen in deliberations at the Organisation of African Unity and the United Nations General Assembly, though peer pressure mechanisms and conditionalities attached to assistance from the International Monetary Fund and multilateral development banks create incentives for implementation.

Impact and Criticism

The Convention has been praised by actors like UNHCR and OCHA for establishing a normative framework tailored to African displacement crises including responses to the Sahel Crisis and displacement from Ethiopian internal conflicts, while civil society organizations such as Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre note improvements in national policies in states including Uganda, Nigeria and Ghana. Criticisms from scholars at institutions like Oxford University and University of Cape Town point to gaps in enforcement, resource constraints, and uneven ratification similar to compliance patterns seen with the Rome Statute and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Debates continue in forums convened by the African Union Commission and think tanks such as the International Crisis Group about strengthening implementation through regional funding mechanisms, judicial remedies at the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights and integration with disaster risk reduction frameworks like those promoted by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Category:African Union treaties Category:Human rights instruments