Abstract
Since most African states gained independence, immediately then and for so long afterward, the focus was dealing with the armed conflicts that were rampant across the continent. Consequently, the legal framework that first emanated from the regional governing body, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), with regard to migration, dealt with specific aspects of the refugee problem in Africa. Forced migration and how to deal with displaced populations was a pressing problem reflective of the political developments, thus soliciting coordinated responses from the regional political body, the OAU, which later metamorphosed into the African Union (AU). It was later recognized that while the continental legal framework recognized and sought to address aspects of external displacement, there was an even larger population of internally displaced persons (IDPs), who without any legal and policy framework, not only internationally but also domestically were virtually lacking any form of protection and standards that would compel the respective governments to respond to their needs. Thirty-nine years after the adoption of the Refugees Convention, the AU, in 2009, adopted the Convention for the protection and assistance of IDPs in Africa. A vast improvement on the Refugees Convention that tends to be very sketchy on the rights of refugees and attendant duties of the government, the IDP Convention has been lauded as an instrument that ‘provides a roadmap that dignifies the rights of peoples forced to flee at all points of their displacement’.
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Notes
- 1.
The OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, 1969.
- 2.
Suffice to note, the international community adopted the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement in 1998, which were not legally binding. The AU Convention on IDPs, which was guided by the international guidelines, is, however, the first legally binding instrument adopted worldwide that seeks to enhance the protection of IDPs.
- 3.
In the year the IDP Convention was adopted, there were 6,468,788 IDPs and people in IDP-like situations, compared with the 2,805,165 refugees and people in refugee-like situations in Africa. See UN Statistical Yearbook, 2009 available at https://www.unhcr.org/4ce5327f9.html accessed on 2 November 2019.
- 4.
IDMC, ‘What the Kampala Convention means concretely for human rights in Africa and in the world’, available at http://www.internal-displacement.org/expert-opinion/what-the-kampala-convention-means-concretely-for-human-rights-in-africa-and-in-the accessed on 2 November 2019.
- 5.
The MPFA was first adopted in 2006 but was later revised in 2016 to reflect new developments and trends.
- 6.
Ibid
- 7.
Ibid
- 8.
Nalule, C. ‘Migration in Africa: Filling in the Gaps and Strengthening the Regional Refugee Protection and Migration Regime’. A paper presented at the Sixth Forum of the African Union Commission on International Law. 4–5 December, Malabo, 2017b, Equatorial Guinea. Accessed on 9 November 2019. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:64e2351a-3629-476f-af04-3d74e3b04913
- 9.
IGAD, IGAD Regional Migration Policy Framework, adopted in July 2012, available at http://migration.igad.int/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Regional-Migration-Policy-Framework1.pdf accessed on 2 November 2019.
- 10.
The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families entered into force in July 2003. Information on state ratifications is available at http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/international-migration/international-migration-convention/ accessed on 2 November 2019.
- 11.
African Union. Constitutive Act of the African Union, 2000. Accessed on 1 November 2019. https://au.int/en/treaties/constitutive-act-african-union
- 12.
AU Constitutive Act, Article 3 (h).
- 13.
Ibid, Article 3 (k).
- 14.
All states in Africa, except Morocco, have ratified the ACHPR, hence it is a largely regionally binding document.
- 15.
ACHPR, Article 2.
- 16.
Some examples are: The Constitution of the Republic of Uganda 1995 as amended, Article 29(2); The Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania cap. 2, Article 17(1); The Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda 2003 as amended, Article 23; The Constitution of the Republic of Kenya 2010, Article 39(2).
- 17.
Hansungule, M. ‘Towards a More Effective African System of Human Rights: ‘Entebbe Proposals’’. 2004. Accessed on 23 August 2020. https://www.biicl.org/files/2309_hansungule_towards_more_effective.pdf
- 18.
Rencontre africaine pour la défence des droits de l’Homme (RADDHO) v Zambia, Communication no. 71/92;
Organisation mondiale contre la torture, Association Internationale des juristes démocrates, Commission internationale des juristes, Union interafricaine des droits de l’Homme v Rwanda, Communication no.
27/89–46/91–49/91–99/93; IHRDA (on behalf of Esmaila Connateh & 13 others) v Republic of Angola, Communication no. 292/04; Union interafricaine des droits de l’Homme, Fédération internationale des ligues des droits de l’Homme, Rencontre africaine des droits de l’Homme, Organisation nationale des droits de l’Homme au Sénégal and Association malienne des droits de l’Homme v Angola, Communication no. 159/96.
- 19.
The point was emphasized by the ACmHPR in the RADDHO v Zambia case (ibid).
- 20.
See for instance, AFP, ‘Italy’s Salvini lays down law for migrant rescue ships’ AFP, 19 March 2019 available at https://www.france24.com/en/20190319-italys-salvini-lays-down-law-migrant-rescue-ships accessed on 3 November 2019.
- 21.
ACHPR, Article 12 paragraph 5.
- 22.
ACmPHR decisions on cases of mass expulsion of non-nationals include: IHRDA v Angola, supra note 13; Union Interafricaine & others v Angola, supra note 13.
- 23.
Viljoen, F. International Human Rights Law in Africa. 2nd ed. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2012.
- 24.
Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, adopted on 10 June 1998, Articles 30–31.
- 25.
Jalloh, C, Kamari M C, and V O O Nmehielle (eds.) The African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples’ Rights in Context: Development and Challenges. Cambridge, United Kingdom; New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2019.
- 26.
Adupa B. C. “Lagos Plan of Action”, I Abiola, & B Jeyifo (eds.), The Oxford Encyclopedia of African Thought. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
- 27.
African Economic Community
- 28.
AEC Treaty, Article 6.
- 29.
In addition to the recognised eight there are also: The Mano River Union in West Africa; the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC); the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU); and the Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU). Moreover all African countries belong to at least more than one REC.
- 30.
For instance, the EAC Treaty, article 104 (1); Treaty of the SADC, Article 5 (2) (d); COMESA Treaty, Article 4 (6) (e); ECOWAS Treaty, Article 2 (2) (d). All these RECs have adopted protocols relating to the free movement of persons, although, presently, it is only in the EAC and ECOWAS where they are in force and being implemented. Note that most of the other REC Agreements not exemplified here do also contain some provisions on free movement.
- 31.
Information available at https://au.int/en/visa-free-africa, accessed on 4 November 2019.
- 32.
Adopted on 21 March 2018 and came into force on 30 May 2019.
- 33.
AfCFTA, Article 3 (a).
- 34.
Adopted on 29 January 2018, but yet to come into force as it has not yet received the required minimum number of ratifications.
- 35.
Nalule, C. ‘Advancing Regional Integration: Migration Rights of Citizens in the East African Community’. Thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Law, 2017a.
- 36.
Landau, L & Kihato, C. W. ‘Foresight reflection paper on the future of mobility and migration within and from Sub-Saharan Africa’. 2018. Accessed on 30 October 2019. https://espas.secure.europarl.europa.eu/orbis/sites/default/files/generated/document/en/Foresight%20Reflection%20Paper%20Sub-Saharan%20Africa_V01.pdf
- 37.
Petersmann, E. U. “Time for a United Nations ‘Global Compact’ for Integrating Human Rights into the Law of Worldwide Organizations: Lessons from European Integration.” European Journal of International Law 13, no. 3 (2002): 621–50.
- 38.
Alston, P. ‘Resisting the Merger and Acquisition of Human Rights by Trade Law: A Reply to Petersmann’. European Journal of International Law 13, (2002): 815–44.
- 39.
Ibid, Nalule, 2017a
- 40.
Nalule, C. ‘Defining the Scope of Free Movement of Citizens in the East African Community: The East African Court of Justice and Its Interpretive Approach’.Journal of African Law 62, no. 1 (2018): 1–24.
Samuel Mukira Mohochi v The Attorney General of Uganda, EACJ Reference No. 5 of 2011. Paras. 104–108.
- 41.
Femi Falana & another v The Republic of Benin & others, ECW/CCJ/APP/10/07.
- 42.
Helfer, L. R. ‘Subregional Courts in Africa: Litigating the Hybrid Right to Free Movement of Persons’. International Journal of Constitutional Law 16, no. 1 (2018): 235–53.
- 43.
Gathii, J. T. ‘Mission Creep or a Search for Relevance: The East African Court of Justice’s Human Rights Strategy’. SSRN Electronic Journal, 2012. Accessed on 23 October 2019 https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2178756. See also; Helfer, 2015; Nalule, 2018.
- 44.
Ibid, Landau and Kihato, 2018
- 45.
Davy, D. ‘Unpacking the Myths: Human Smuggling from and within the Horn of Africa’. Danish Refugee Council & Regional Mixed Migration Secretariat, 2017.
- 46.
More information available at https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Trafficking/Dakar_Protection_Kapp-Marais.pdf, accessed on 5 November 2019.
- 47.
See Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, Article 4 (2) (g); The African Charter of the Rights and Welfare of the Child, Article 29.
- 48.
The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, adopted by General Assembly resolution 55/25 of 15 November 2000, has been ratified by 51 African states, while only one state is a signatory. The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, adopted by General Assembly resolution 55/25, has been ratified by 49 African states, while 2 are signatories. The Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, adopted by General Assembly resolution 55/25, has been ratified by 40 African states, while 4 are signatories. Information available at https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/organized-crime/intro/UNTOC.html, accessed on 31 January 2018.
- 49.
See ACmHPR, Resolution on Mixed Migratory Flows, Challenges of Protecting Migrants and the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and all forms of Violence in North and Sub-Saharan Africa, ACHPR/RES.398 adopted at the 62nd session of the Commission. Available at https://www.achpr.org/sessions/resolutions?id=407, accessed on 5 November 2019.
- 50.
African Centre for Strategic Studies, ‘Africa lags in protection against human trafficking’ 27 July 2018, available at https://africacenter.org/spotlight/africa-lags-in-protections-against-human-trafficking/, accessed on 26 October 2019.
- 51.
The AU also adopted the Joint Labour Migration Programme (JLMP), a coordination of the AU Commission, the International Labour Organisation, the International Organisation for Migration and the Economic Commission for Africa. It was adopted by the AU Heads of State and Government in January 2015, with the ‘overall objective of improving the governance of labour migration to achieve safer, orderly and regular migration in Africa as committed in relevant frameworks of the African Union (AU) and Regional Economic Commissions (RECs), as well as international labour conventions and other cooperation processes’, see https://au.int/jlmp accessed on 7 November 2019. However, the JLMP does not seem to address issues of protection of Africans that migrate outside the continent under labour export programmes.
- 52.
Jureidini, R. ‘Ways Forward in Recruitment of Low-Skilled Migrant Workers in the Asia-Arab States Corridor’, 2019. Accessed 7 November 2019. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/%2D%2D-arabstates/%2D%2D-ro-beirut/documents/publication/wcms_519913.pdf
- 53.
Missionaries of Africa, ‘Labor Export of Human Trafficking: Tackling the Labor Laws in Uganda’ available at http://www.missionariesofafrica.org/2018/12/labor-export-or-human-trafficking-tackling-the-labor-laws-in-uganda/, accessed on 7 November 2019.
- 54.
Atong, K, Mayah, E, & Odigie, A 2019, ‘Africa Labour Migration to the GCC States’. Accessed November 7, 2019. https://www.ituc-africa.org/IMG/pdf/ituc-africa_study-africa_labour_migration_to_the_gcc_states.pdf.
See also; Jureidini, R 2019, ‘Ways Forward in Recruitment of Low-Skilled Migrant Workers in the Asia-Arab States Corridor’. Accessed 7 November 2019. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/%2D%2D-arabstates/%2D%2D-ro-beirut/documents/publication/wcms_519913.pdf
- 55.
Betts, A. Survival Migration: Failed Governance and the Crisis of Displacement. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2017. See also; Mixed Migration Centre 2019, “4Mi Snapshot: Young People on the Move from East Africa.” Accessed on 9 November 2019. http://www.mixedmigration.org/resource/4mi-snapshot-young-people-on-the-move-from-east-africa/
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Nalule, C. (2021). Migration and Human Rights in Africa: The Policy and Legal Framework in Broad Strokes. In: Abegunrin, O., Abidde, S.O. (eds) African Migrants and the Refugee Crisis. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56642-5_5
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