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 human rights violations…
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,…
President Trump’s recent Executive Order is, without a doubt, extreme. The four-month hold on allowing refugees into the US, and the temporary ban on travellers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Sudan, Afghanistan, Somalia and Yemen, is both ridiculous and cruel. It is also wrong at multiple levels. It is flawed in its methodology, mistakenly based…
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 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…
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…
This has been a rough month for the International Criminal Court (ICC). After years of threats of withdrawal from the Rome Statute which created the ICC by African states, South Africa, Gambia and Burundi have made moves to do so this month (South Africa and Burundi have formally notified the UN of their withdrawals while…
(27 September 2016) The International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) is pleased to announce the publication of Refugees, Conflict and the Search for Belonging by Lucy Hovil, IRRI’s Senior Researcher. This timely publication, based on seven years of research by IRRI in Eastern and Central Africa, has application beyond the region, pointing to drivers and failures…
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…
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…
July 30, 2016 The Honorable John F. Kerry Secretary Department of State Washington, D.C. 20520 RE: The Office of the U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan Dear Secretary Kerry: Given the urgent crises in Sudan and South Sudan, we, the undersigned 70 human rights groups, activists, scholars and civic leaders, write to request 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 un-deterred by…
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…
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…
