Over the last couple of years, scores of activists have died protesting against President Joseph Kabila’s refusal to step down. In the latest bout of nationwide demonstrations on 31 December 2017, at least seven more were killed as they took the streets. Many more were arrested. However, it is not just the Democratic Republic…
International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) a publié un nouveau rapport sur les violences et les déplacements dans la région du Kasaï en république démocratique du Congo (RDC). Il montre que suite à des attaques commises par une milice, ont eu lieu des opérations militaires abusives et des massacres par une milice progouvernement, causant la mort…
International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) published a new report about violence and displacement in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It describes how attacks by a militia were followed by abusive military operations and mass killings by a pro-government militia, causing the death and displacement of hundreds of thousands. IRRI spoke…
As South Sudanese leaders are set to participate in another series of talks in the coming months, their citizens continue to flee the violence, lawlessness and humanitarian disaster that characterises their country. From refugee settlements in Uganda and elsewhere in the region, they follow these discussions with a mix of scepticism, hope and rejection. Most…
In August 2014, eight months after the war in South Sudan began, the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) described it as “a war on the children of South Sudan”. More than three years later, the violence in South Sudan continues, and children continue to be the victims…
Thousands of victims across the world continue to see the ICC as a beacon of hope and an avenue to obtain justice for egregious crimes perpetrated against them. Up to September 2017, over 12, 985 victims were participating in proceedings before the Court. Between August 2016 and August 2017 alone, the Court received over 4,725…
ISSUE 87 ISSN 2049-2650 Editorial Team: Fiona McKinnon, Mandy Jam, Susan Fratzke, Catherine Tyson, Natsumi Paxton, Nejla Sammakia, Iana Messetchkova, Mohamed ElSayeh, Kavita Kapur, Joshua Lowe, and Christian Jorgensen. Chief Editor: Themba Lewis Web links are in blue. ——————————————————————————————————————————————– In this issue: Articles Why some E.U. States want hotspots in the Sahel News News on Countries…
“I don’t want to go back [to Burundi],” Marie[i], a 29 year old widow, told International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) in June, when we interviewed her in a refugee settlement in Uganda. “There are too many criminals in Burundi and I know they can’t put them all in prison.” Her husband, an opposition member, had…
Over the last 25 years, drought, violence and human rights abuses have pushed millions of Somalis from their homes.1 Many have remained within Somalia, while others have fled across international borders, either into neighbouring countries like Kenya, or further afield to Uganda, Europe or the United States (US). As with many large groups of exiles,…
Their priority is not the people of Somalia,” a Somali woman who had recently fled to the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya said about peacekeepers in her home country. “It is the government and themselves.” Unfortunately, this view is not unique. Civilians in countries with peace operations often experience a wide gap between them…
On 28 August Israel’s High Court of Justice issued its ruling in an appeal on a district court decision concerning Israel’s “voluntary departures” scheme. Under this scheme, Eritreans and Sudanese irregular migrants are transferred from Israel to unnamed “third countries” in Africa. Israel has never disclosed the names of the countries involved in this…
Burundian asylum seekers and refugees, International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) said today. According to MONUSCO, on 15 September, Congolese government security forces killed at least 36 and injured over 100 Burundians in Kamanyola (South Kivu province), during demonstrations by Burundians against threatened expulsions. “The Congolese authorities must ensure that their investigation, into what appears to…
(Kampala – 6 September 2017) International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) today published a new report on the African Union and the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), exploring how this principle has taken root within the continental union, in the form of non-indifference. The internationally agreed principle of R2P provides that states are primarily responsible for protecting their populations…
Burundian refugees should “return to their homeland, because peace and security prevail on the whole national territory”, Burundi’s second vice-president, Joseph Butore stated during the Uganda Solidarity Summit on Refugees, held in Kampala in June 2017. Then during a recent visit to Tanzania, Burundi’s president Pierre Nkurunziza expressed a similar message to refugees there. However,…
The first six months of this year has continued at a pace for IRRI. Not only have the areas we work in continue to be challenging but we have worked hard to ensure the voices of the displaced and conflict affected communities are not only heard but heeded at the international level. In addition, our…
This paper draws on six years of field research in the Great Lakes region, incorporating nine units of field research. Each study focused on the links between citizenship and forced displacement in the Great Lakes region and examined both the differences and the interaction between local and national understandings of belonging.
Uganda is currently holding a Solidarity Summit on Refugees. The summit is taking place as Uganda hosts over a million refugees, the majority of whom have fled the upsurge in fighting in South Sudan. Despite the extraordinary speed and scale of displacement (between July 2016 and January 2017, over half a million refugees arrived in…
To all Members of the African Union Peace and Security Council Your Excellencies, RE: URGENT: Ensuring the Independence, Neutrality and Impartiality of the AU PSC Field Mission to Burundi Your Excellencies, as Burundian and African civil society organisations, we welcome news that the Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AU PSC) will conduct a…
The United Nations Human Rights Council should urgently establish a commission of inquiry into the situation in the central Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a coalition of 262 Congolese and 9 international nongovernmental organizations said today. The 35th session of the Human Rights Council begins June 6, 2017, in Geneva. Between…
(23 February 2017) We, the undersigned South Sudanese, regional and international non-governmental organisations, write to urge your delegation to renew and strengthen the mandate and capacity of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan (the Commission) to address the continued lack of accountability for severe, widespread and on-going crimes under international law and…
