International Refugees Rights Initiative (IRRI) today launched a report about civilian perspectives on the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), whose mandate has been recently renewed. This report is based on interviews with 62 Somalis and is the third in a series on civilian perspectives of peacekeeping forces in Africa. The report highlights that many in Somalia…
(28 February 2017) Continued engagement with the UN is critical to advancing a number of core U.S. foreign policy objectives, including securing recent gains in international development, delivering lifesaving humanitarian assistance, combating terrorism, encouraging the peaceful resolution of conflict, and promoting universal human rights. IRRI has joined with one hundred other human and civil rights…
In October 2009, the African Union adopted The Kampala Convention, (the Convention) which was designed for the protection and assistance of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Africa. It came into force in 2012, 30 days after its ratification by the 15th member state. According to paragraph k of the 1st article of the Kampala Convention,…
We, the undersigned organizations from the continent in solidarity with the people of South Sudan, urge you to seize a potentially powerful opportunity for a sustained peace in South Sudan by committing your leadership to the development of an open and inclusive national dialogue for our continent’s newest nation at the 28th Ordinary Session…
The International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) is responding to the call for information about humanitarian responses to forced displacement in Central and East Africa. Dedicated to promoting human rights in situations of conflict and displacement and enhancing the protection of vulnerable populations before, during and after conflict, IRRI works to challenge the exclusion and human…
The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that this “quarterly” newsletter in fact covers six month of our activities so our apologies for it being a little longer than usual. In this update you can find information on our activities re protecting rights in exile, the causes and resolution ton conflict including our work on Gambia, Burundi, Sudan, South Sudan, DRC, citizenship rights…
The International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) publishes an annual report on progress made in three focus areas: identifying the violations that cause displacement and exile; protecting the rights of those who are displaced, and ensuring the solutions to their displacement are durable, rights respecting, safe and timely. The 2016 report summarizes our work and looks…
Tomorrow marks a terrible anniversary for South Sudan. On December 15, 2013, fighting in Juba ignited a brutal conflict that has torn the country apart, leaving millions of South Sudanese in dire need. Today the country stands on a precipice. On behalf of the undersigned organizations we urge the UN Human Rights Council to use…
A week after accepting defeat in the Gambia’s 1 December polls, President Yahya Jammeh, in an extraordinary volte-face, rejected the results of the presidential election and ordered soldiers to take control of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), throwing the country into uncertainty. Today anxiety and disarray prevails in the minds of many Gambians as they…
In Burundi, people know only too well the consequences of war. And one of the most tangible consequences of war is displacement. But not only does war lead to displacement, failures to create a viable end to displacement can create the conditions for further unrest. This is precisely what has happened in Burundi, where a…
(7 December 2016) Today, the International Refugee Rights Initiative launched a new report, “I Know the Consequences of War: Understanding the dynamics of displacement in Burundi”. The report brings much needed insight as to how Burundians are deciding to flee or stay in a context in which more than 300,000 are already in exile. The…
On 1 December 2016, Gambians will go to the polls to elect a president with the likely scenario being the incumbent, President Yahya Jammeh will be re-elected for a fifth time. Twenty-two years ago, Jammeh was a young army officer when he took power in a military coup. He was then elected in 1996, and…
The idea of the deterrence project originated in one of the Academy’s Advisory Council meetings. Justice SONG Sang-Hyun, former President of the International Criminal Court (‘ICC’), proposed that the Academy could conduct a study into whether the ICC has had a deterrent effect. A preliminary literature survey disclosed that no major study had been conducted…
The Pact on Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region (Great Lakes Pact) is a comprehensive package of new laws, programmes of action and mechanisms that represent a commitment by the 11 member states of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region to work to end the conflicts which have plagued their…
On the two-year anniversary of the outbreak of violence in South Sudan, IRRI has published a new report, “Protecting some of the people some of the time: Civilian perspectives on peacekeeping forces in South Sudan”. The report examines civilian perspectives of peacekeeping forces in South Sudan within the broader context of the conflict and…
(Kampala, 6 September 2016) Five years after the start of the conflict in Sudan’s Blue Nile State, attacks against civilians continue unabated according to a report released by the International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) and the National Human Rights Monitors Organisation (NHRMO) today. A Crisis Normalised: Civilian perspectives on the conflict in Sudan’s Blue Nile…
7 September 2016 Re: Current human rights and humanitarian situation in Sudan Excellency, Our organisations write to you in advance of the opening of the 33rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council to share our serious concerns regarding the human rights and humanitarian situation in Sudan. Many of these abuses are detailed in…
The political impasse in the Democratic Republic of Congo is at serious risk of spiraling into widespread violence over the coming months, with serious consequences for the people in Congo and broader ramifications across the region. Since January 2015, the Congolese government has imposed a brutal crackdown against those who have spoken out against or…
This submission focuses on the conflict in Sudan’s Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states (also known as the “Two Areas”) between the government and the Sudan People’s Liberation ArmyNorth (SPLA-N). It details attacks against civilians in the Two Areas and is based on information compiled by the Sudan Consortium and the National Human Rights Monitors Organisation…
August 9, 2016 The Honourable Frank-Walter Steinmeier Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs c/o German Embassy 4645 Reservoir Road NW Washington, DC 20007 Dear Minister Steinmeier, We, the undersigned 77 human rights groups, civic leaders, scholars and activists, write to request your assistance in securing the immediate release of internally displaced Darfuris who were arrested by…
