#DigitALL Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality Digitalisation is a necessary tool for progressive development as it can streamline processes, increase data, access to information and services, and spur innovation, thereby increasing efficiency, access and social progress. Access to and ownership of digital devices as well as access to the internet, can offer additional employment,…
FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR When I was joining IRRI in the first quarter of 2019, I could not have imagined the dynamism and shifts we would experience by the end of 2019. We changed. Simply put. At the milestone of 15 years, we determined that we needed to re- strategise and rethink IRRI, and what…
Joint statement by 26 international NGOs in Uganda on the need for urgent action to address gaps in funding for the refugee response. Uganda hosts the largest number of refugees in Africa, and is among the top refugee hosting countries globally. Every day more people, mostly women and children, continue to arrive in search of…
22 June 2018 To United Nations Security Council Members Re: Proposed reduction to the UNAMID mandate in Darfur Dear Ambassadors, We, the undersigned Sudanese, scholars, human rights organizations and leading activists, write to you to express our concerns with the upcoming proposal regarding the status of UNAMID. In light of frequent and recent devastating incidents of violence,…
On Wednesday 2 May 2018, the International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) with support from the Open Society Foundations (OSF), organised a workshop in Uganda on the Right to Nationality, ahead of the second meeting of African Union’s Member States Experts on the Draft Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights on the Specific Aspects on the Right to a…
As the world witnesses a drastic increase in the numbers of refugees and forced migrants, governments, humanitarian actors and development partners alike continue to debate the humanitarian, social, economic and security implications of this growth in international displacement. The global response to forced migration remains centred around three durable solutions: repatriation to country of…
IRRI’s 2017 Annual Report highlights our work in a year of significant achievement for us, as we continued to work on our three main programmatic areas of: -identifying the violations that cause displacement and exile; -protecting the rights of those who are displaced, and -ensuring resolutions to their displacement are durable, rights respecting, safe and timely. The…
Refugees and migrants who are trying to escape from Libya by boat are often intercepted at sea by the EU-funded Libyan coastguard and disembarked on land, where they are provided with immediate assistance by humanitarian agencies. Little is known about the interception process or what happens to refugees and migrants who have been returned…
By January 2018, there were approximately 1.4 million refugees and asylum seekers in Uganda, the majority of whom are from South Sudan. The rapid expansion and demarcation of land for refugee settlements in northern Uganda has allowed national and international actors to respond to the humanitarian needs of South Sudanese refugee communities. While this…
Between March and July 2017, close to 35,000 Congolese refugees fled atrocities in the Kasai region and sought safety in Angola. While the Angolan government has offered many safety from militia and army attacks in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), its treatment of those who have fled is troubling. IRRI’s policy paper –…
Over sixty people killed, thousands of houses burned down and more than 100,000 displaced people, including 42,000 refugees in neighbouring Uganda. Those are the consequences so far of the violence in the north-eastern Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since December 2017. The violence marks a counterpoint to the general trend in…
To Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Geneva 23 February 2018 RE: Renewing and strengthening the mandate of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan to ensure accountability for gross violations of human rights and related crimes in South Sudan Excellencies, We, the undersigned national, regional and…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Failing to Prosecute Hissène Habré for Sexual Crimes Would be Missing a Historic Opportunity Mr. President of the Extraordinary African Chambers, Mr. Chief Prosecutor, We welcome the creation of the Extraordinary African Chambers, a special tribunal created by the African Union and Senegal to prosecute international crimes committed in Chad during the rule of Hissène…
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Excellencies, Representatives of the AU Peace and Security Council Member States, H.E. Chairperson Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, African Union Commission, H.E. President Thabo Mbeki, Chair of the AU High-Level Implementation Panel, Your Excellencies, We, the undersigned Sudanese and African civil society organizations, write with deep concern about the decision of the African…
