Civil Society Statement on Push Factors in Sudan and the Khartoum Process 20 June 2016 On World Refugee Day, we, the undersigned individuals and civil society organisations, wish to draw attention to a number of the human rights violations serving as push factors for Sudan’s refugees and internally displaced. In light of the recent EU-Horn…
On 2 June 2016, the Congolese organisation Filimbi asked Fatou Bensouda, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), to investigate the ongoing situation near Beni, in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In the words of a representative of the organisation, “A case like that of the massacres of…
The Right Honourable David Cameron MP 10 Downing Street London SW1A 2AA Saturday 4 June 2016 Dear Prime Minister, 5th YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF CONFLICT IN SOUTH KORDOFAN AND BLUE NILE, SUDAN We, as representatives of the population in the Nuba Mountains and wider international and African civil society organisations, as shown in the logos above…
After thirteen years in the country the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), deployed at the end of the country’s civil war in 2003, is preparing to leave the country and hand over full responsibility for security back to Liberia’s government by the end of next month. What is remarkable about this is not that…
On 24 May 2016, IRRI’s Executive Director, Andie Lambe presented at a civil society conference on the drivers of conflict in Burundi. Read the full meeting report.
It may not be easy to determine the social cost of the recent presidential elections and ensuing violence in the Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville) but it is evident that it was quite high. On 16 April, following his victory in controversial presidential elections held in March, Mr. Denis Sassou-Nguesso, who has held power for…
The government of Kenya says it plans to close Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee camp, which hosts approximately 330,000 people, as well as shutting the Department of Refugee Affairs (DRA). The announcement, on Friday 6 May, was no doubt a pre-election stunt of Trump-like proportions that plays to an electorate’s fear of generating instability and…
At his inauguration ceremony yesterday, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, whilst sharing the stage with Sudan’s President Omar-al Bashir, against whom there is an outstanding International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant, stated the ICC was “a bunch of useless people.” “When they started, we used to take the ICC serious but not anymore. They are a…
On 15 April 2016, a cross-border raid from South Sudan into Ethiopia’s Gambella region left more than 200 dead. According to the Ethiopian government, more than 108 women and children were abducted and some 2,000 head of cattle stolen during the attack that targeted Nuer villages in the districts of Jikawo and Lare. Following the…
Mr. Aristide Nononsi UN Independent Expert on the situation of Human Rights in Sudan Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights United Nations Office in Geneva 8-14 Avenue de la Paix CH-1211 Geneva 10 Switzerland By email: iesudan@ohchr.org 26 April 2016 Dear Mr Nononsi, We, Sudanese and international human rights organisations concerned with issues…
With the UNAMID mandate renewal under discussion at the UN Security Council, a new report released today by the International Refugee Rights Initiative provides an analysis of the joint United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) as seen by some of the civilians the force is mandated to protect. The report, “’No one on the…
To: Hon. Chairperson, Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) of the Agreement for Resolution of Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan. Cc: The Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) 17 June 2016 Your Excellency, We, the undersigned non-governmental organisations working in and outside of South Sudan, urge you to be undeterred by an…
IRRI, together with the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) and International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) today published a joint briefing for UN member states setting out key concerns and recommendations to improve the human rights situation in Sudan in advance of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) for Sudan, scheduled to take place on…
The International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) today launched a briefing paper entitled, “Burundi: A country on the edge.” Drawing on a mission to the country in February, in-depth interviews with refugees who have fled to Uganda, and IRRI’s previous experience in the country, the briefing offers insights on some crucial aspects of the current…
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is still without an electoral calendar, despite the fact that presidential elections are supposed to be held this year. As a result, the political climate is tense, compounded by the uncertainty of who will stand given that the Congolese constitution forbids President Kabila, in power since 2001, from competing….
Since the outbreak of civil war in December 2013, more than 600,000 South Sudanese have fled to neighbouring countries. More than 226,000 of them have made their way to Ethiopia, contributing to the country overtaking Kenya as the country hosting the most refugees in Africa. The western region of Gambella hosts more than 270,000 of…
Despite all the time, energy, and rhetoric invested in trying to figure out how to protect civilians from atrocities, the vast majority of civilians in armed conflict are exposed and unprotected. This is very much the case in South Sudan, where, despite the presence of a peacekeeping mission, thousands of civilians have been targeted over…
The African Union and UN appear to have found a new sense of urgency, but Burundi’s current crisis will only be resolved if it is seen as part of a longer legacy. Olivier* was studying at the University of Burundi in April 2015 when unrest began to escalate in the country following President Pierre Nkurunziza’s…
Last week the Be’er-Sheva District Court rejected a petition filed by two Eritrean asylum seekers and six Israeli NGOs against the government’s new policy of imprisoning irregular migrants who are unwilling to leave Israel to Uganda or Rwanda. By doing so, the court gave a green light to the indefinite imprisonment of Eritreans and Sudanese…
Although Zambia has a long tradition of hosting refugees and has been recognised as a generous and hospitable host, current legislation and policies impede the rights of refugees to freedom of movement, which, as IRRI has previously argued, is a “critically important refugee right.” A policy of refugee encampment, which isolates refugees in camps and…
