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…
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…
(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…
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…
State repression and violent conflict lead to gross human rights violations on a daily basis worldwide. Many of these conflicts and violations barely see the light of day as they often happen in areas less of a priority to international key players. Courageous local human rights monitors struggle to collect evidence and put pressure…
(23 June 2016) 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…
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…
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…
As previously reported by the International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI), Burundian President Nkurunziza’s decision in late April to run for a third term triggered protests and violence in Bujumbura and set the stage for an attempted coup (see Suicidal for the nation’: An interview with a Burundian politician in hiding; Burundi: No business as usual;…
The ongoing conflict in Sudan’s Southern Kordofan (SK) and Blue Nile (BN) states, while massively underreported, has had devastating consequences. Widespread aerial bombardment of rebel held civilian areas by the government of Sudan (GoS) are a hallmark of the conflict, and more than 3,000 bombs – on average three a day – have fallen since…
As the General Assembly came together last week to engage in an informal dialogue on the latest report of the UN Secretary-General on the Responsibility to Protect: State Responsibility and Prevention, the ongoing commission of genocide, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity and war crimes (known collectively as “atrocity crimes”) in Syria, Sudan and the Democratic…
The adoption of the responsibility to protect as part of the World Summit outcome document represented a historic commitment to protecting populations from genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity (“atrocity crimes”). By affirming the responsibility of states to protect populations within their borders, and by affirming the right of the international community…
