KM Waziri, N Muktar, IM Muktar: Domestication of The Kampala Convention: Analysing the Gaps in the Legal Framework for the Protection of IDPs in Nigeria (original) (raw)
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Internally Displaced Persons in Nigeria and the Kampala Convention
Recht in Afrika, 2015
This article examines the management of internal displacement in Nigeria using the Kampala Convention as a guide and defines key concepts for a better understanding of the issues under consideration. This paper also examines the history and causes of internal displacement in Nigeria. The article shows that Nigeria has a total of 981,416 internally displaces persons currently. It did an overview of the Kampala Convention and other relevant laws in Nigeria. This is necessary because the article discovered that the Kampala Convention has not been domesticated in Nigeria although it has been ratified. The implication of this is that the Convention will not be applicable until it has been domesticated in line with the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution. A critical examination of the relevant agencies involved in the management of internal displacements forms part of the discussion. Their roles and challenges were highlighted by this article. It concludes by encouraging the government to domesticate the relevant laws and to adequately fund the relevant agencies. This will help in achieving durable solutions to displacements. The article suggests that the root causes of displacements in Nigeria should be tackled and that government policies that engender arbitrary displacements should be challenged and concludes by noting that curbing internal displacements should be a collective effort on the part of the government and its agencies, nongovernmental organizations, non-state actors and individuals.
Internally displaced persons (IDPs) lived within the borders of their own country thus the responsibility for their protection and assistance rests on their national government. IDPs are not so privileged like refugees whose protection is guaranteed in international law. The protection and assistance of IDPs is encumbered by series of legal and institutional constraints in Nigeria. These concerns are interminable and preponderates all phases of internal displacement such as pre-displacement, displacement and post displacement. This paper aims at exploring into these bulging challenges with a view to bringing to the fore their intractable influence on the protection needs of IDPs. The paper also delves in examination of laudable efforts of Nigerian Government in a bid to ameliorate these challenges either by way of statutory interventions or policy initiatives. The paper as a conceptual analysis relies on primary sources such as international legal instruments, Nigerian domestic legislations, case law, and secondary sources such as textbooks, journal articles and other library based sources. This study is significant as it brings to the fore the imperative needs to address the prevailing difficulties faced by internally displaced persons as a result of unending surge in internal crises in Nigeria At the end of this discourse, the paper founds inter-alia that good laws and policies without the appropriate political will to implement them for the betterment of IDPs as part of the entire citizenry would remain dead letters. The paper recommends the adoption and implementation of relevant instruments and policies on IDPs' protection in Nigeria and review of extant laws and policies as a way of bridging the gaps in the protection cycle of IDPs in Nigeria.
Enhancing protection of internally displaced persons through domestic law and policy
Nnamdi Azikiwe University Journal of International Law and Jurisprudence, 2019
With the global crisis and conflicts, Africa as a continent has the largest number of IDPs in the world. Unfortunately, peoples have lost their life, exposed to different abuses; abandon their homes, property and their family in Nigeria due to Boko Haram insurgency, political instability, civil conflict, natural or economic predicaments and more also developmental projects. The problem of IDPs includes lack of basic amenities such access to portable water, good health care services, food, and shelter. As displaced persons did not cross an internationally recognised border, they are termed ‘’internally displaced persons’’ (IDPs) not refugees. The paper will examine the legal framework on the rights of IDPs and the Kampala Convention 2009 of the African Union. The paper analyses the legal regime for the Protection and Assistance of the IDPs rights in regional conflicts. This paper examines the AU Kampala Convention 2009 and how the rights of the IDPs have been violated by the agents o...
Protecting The Rights Of Internally Displaced Women And Vulnerable Persons Under The Law In Nigeria
SEAHI PUBLICATIONS, 2023
Over fifty million people are currently internally displaced. An overwhelming majority of Internally Displaced Persons in Nigeria are women and children. According to Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), Nigeria’s share of the scourge of internal displacement is about 4.5 million people. Internal displacement describes a situation in which individuals or groups are compelled to stay away from their homes but remain within the borders of their country. The causes of internal displacement are numerous and include violent conflicts with religious, ethnic and political undertones. Uncountable Nigerians are displaced annually as a result of natural causes including flooding in various states in Nigeria, erosion in the South East, oil spillage in the Niger Delta and development projects in various parts of the country. Incidents of violent attacks between Fulani herdsmen and local farmers contributed to the number of displaced women and vulnerable persons in Nigeria. Displacement exposes IDPs to new hazards and accrued vulnerability especially women and children. Health outcomes are dismaying. The impact of internal displacement on victims is devastating. This article examines the management of internal displacement in Nigeria using the Kampala Convention as a guide. This paper also examines the causes and challenges of internal displaced persons in Nigeria. It was discovered that the Kampala Convention has not been domesticated in Nigeria although it has been ratified. The implication of this is that the Convention will not be applicable until it has been domesticated in line with the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution. The research methodology was doctrinal approach, using expository and analytical research design. .The main sources of data collection were various legal literatures, both from the physical library and the e-library. Therefore, it was recommended among others that the present administration should as a matter of urgency enact a legal frame work or law to back up the execution of the national frame work. The National Assembly should domesticate as part of Nigerian law some International and regional instruments like Kampala Document of the Africa Union, which although ratified still faces constitutional embargo and not yet part of Nigeria law for it to have any legal effect in Nigeria. The article suggests that the root causes of displacements in Nigeria should be tackled and concludes by noting that curbing internal displacements should be a collective effort on the part of the government and its agencies, nongovernmental organizations, non-state actors and individuals. Finally, this article was made to be significant to all stakeholders in human right and feminism.
The needs to protect and assist internally displaced persons IDPs in Africa became imperatives in the year 2000s. This culminated to the adoption of international convention in the continent which provides the legal basis for signatory countries to protect their displaced population. This is work is set to unravel the reasons why Africa countries in general and Nigeria in particular failed to drastically address the plight of IDPs despite this international norm. The work is principally descriptive and analytical and relied on both secondary and primary sources of data. The secondary source are texbook, news concerning the issue under review and internet source. While interview with resource persons in area of migration and displacement constitute the primary source. It is vividly revealed that African countries do not follow Kampala convention to the letter despite its domestication in protecting and assisting the IDPs. Nigeria which is one of the countries with highest number of displaced population in the continent ratified the convention in 2012 but lack institutional framework that will discharge its international obligations of protecting and assisting the IDPs in the country. The work thus recommends conflicts prevention and institutional mechanism design specifically to address the plight of IDPs in the country among others.
Internal Displacement in Nigeria and the Case for Human Rights Protection of Displaced Persons
Millions all over the world are currently internally displaced as a result of various causes including forcible movements to inhospitable areas, civil wars in which villages have been destroyed, insurgency and ethnic persecution through government policies. Yet the plight of internally displaced persons is a problem that is not directly addressed by any international instrument or by domestic laws in the case of Nigeria, thereby contributing to the ad hoc nature of response strategy to such crises. The presence of internally displaced persons within national territory means that their own government bears primary responsibility for meeting their protection and assistance needs but in most cases, they are either unwilling or unable to guarantee the basic rights and minimum needs of their internally displaced persons. This paper evaluated internal displacement and IDPs from this perspective. It examined the challenges faced by IDPs in Nigeria, adequacy of mechanisms put in place to ensure the protection of IDPs in Nigeria and potential solutions to the problems faced by IDPs recognising existing deficiency in response strategy and protection hiatuses.
International Journal of Humanities and Social Science
In an era of protracted violent conflicts of different types, trends and dimensions, there is bound to be increased displacements, dislocations, disruptions and vulnerabilities. The displacement of persons during violent conflict increases vulnerability by exacerbating existing and creating new conditions that encourage further sufferings and trauma, especially of women and children who naturally bear its greater brunt. This study interrogates the applicability of the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (also known as the Kampala Convention) and other human rights instruments that provides for the protection and assistance of internally displaced persons. It is against this backdrop that the paper adopts the theory of Forced Migration to situate its argument in view of rising situation of natural disasters and violent conflicts that currently engulf Nigeria leading to massive displacements. The paper advocates for the domestication and implementation of the Kampala Convention that Nigeria had signed in the management of humanitarian crisis, building durable solution and sustainable peace.
International journal of humanities and social sciences. , 2019
In an era of protracted violent conflicts of different types, trends and dimensions, there is bound to be increased displacements, dislocations, disruptions and vulnerabilities. The displacement of persons during violent conflict increases vulnerability by exacerbating existing and creating new conditions that encourage further sufferings and trauma, especially of women and children who naturally bear its greater brunt. This study interrogates the applicability of the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (also known as the Kampala Convention) and other human rights instruments that provides for the protection and assistance of internally displaced persons. It is against this backdrop that the paper adopts the theory of Forced Migration to situate its argument in view of rising situation of natural disasters and violent conflicts that currently engulf Nigeria leading to massive displacements. The paper advocates for the domestication and implementation of the Kampala Convention that Nigeria had signed in the management of humanitarian crisis, building durable solution and sustainable peace.
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.4 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.
The Jury: Journal of Law Students Association of Nigeria University of Abuja, 2017
Internally displaced persons (IDPs) who in most cases live under very deplorable conditions are protected like every other citizen by various domestic and international laws and are entitled to fundamental rights which include the right to life, right to the dignity of the human person and such other rights as are provided. The extent to which these rights have been protected depends largely on the legal framework for the protection of internally displaced persons and the extent to which these instruments are implemented. This work discusses some the applicable legal regime and institutions responsible for the protection of IDPs and the extent to which they are being applied in Nigeria.