Approximately 162,000 former Burundian refugees in Tanzania are living in legal limbo in Tanzania. Having been accepted for naturalisation and having renounced their Burundian nationality, they are now unable to get certificates confirming their new status. The situation facing this group is the subject of a paper launched by the International Refugee Rights Initiative today, “I…
(10 August 2012) On 21 July 2012, Tanzania’s Daily News reported that Tanzanian President, Jakaya Kikwete, had announced that “all refugee camps sheltering Burundian refugees would be closed down”. There was, the paper quoted him as saying, “no strong reason for the Burundians to stay […] when back home peace had been restored and life…
On 14 March 2012, the International Criminal Court (ICC) will hand down its first verdict in the case of former rebel leader Thomas Lubanga of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). As Iturians anxiously await the verdict, it is an opportune moment to reflect on the impact that the investigation and trial, alongside other activities…
The introductory note to the series lays out the key questions that will be considered by the series. It will reflect local perspectives on international justice as it is being experienced in Africa. It aims to deepen the debate around a series of key questions and controversies facing the realisation of international justice, anchored in…
This paper reflects on the ICC’s engagement in Uganda through the lens of the author’s experience working with one of the largest national civil society organisations in Uganda at the time when the investigations was first announced and the first arrest warrants were issued.
The International Refugee Rights Initiative today launched a primer “Using the Great Lakes Conference to Combat Sexual Violence: A Primer.” The launch coincides with the closure of the 4th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) in Kampala on the theme “United to Prevent, End…
4 October 2011) On 25 May 2011, a Tripartite Commission comprised of the governments of Tanzania and Burundi and the UNHCR met to discuss the future of approximately 38,000 refugees in Mtabila camp in Tanzania. The talks ended with a decision to close the camp on 31 December 2011. The government of Tanzania has announced…
(August 2011) Intermediaries play a critical role in the work of the International Criminal Court (ICC) providing specialist information services and expertise and linking various organs of the ICC with constituencies on the ground. And these roles are likely to only expand as the ourt expands its work. The International Refugee Rights Initiative and the…
Speculation is rife in the North Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) surrounding the possible return of Congolese refugees currently living in Rwanda following the signing of a tripartite agreement between the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the governments of Rwanda and the DRC in February 2010. Yet as…
In a research published titled “Who Belongs Where? Conflict, Displacement, Land and Identity in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo” by the International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) in partnership with the New York-based Social Science Research Council (SSRC), views of the ongoing conflict in the east of the country are presented from the perspective of those displaced by it –…
Today, the International Refugee Rights Initiative and the Refugee Law Project launched a new report, “A Dangerous Impasse: Rwandan Refugees in Uganda”. The paper examines why refugees living in Uganda’s Nakivale settlement are refusing to return to Rwanda despite considerable push factors. Based on 102 interviews with Rwandan refugees, UN and government officials, the findings…
The International Refugee Rights Initiative, in partnership with Rema Ministries and the Social Science Research Council, released a new paper,”Two People Can’t Share the Same Pair of Shoes: Citizenship, Land and the Return of Refugees to Burundi.” The paper, the second in the series Citizenship and Displacement in the Great Lakes region, tracks the…
This paper outlines serious concerns regarding the protection of refugees in the country: once the camp is closed, approximately 30,000 refugees will be effectively homeless. Pressure to repatriate combined with a clear reticence on the part of refugees to return, calls into question the voluntary nature of the exercise. Meanwhile the outcome of a special…
A note issued by the Darfur Consortium in collaboration with IRRI to the African Union It has been just over one month since the expulsion of 13 international humanitarian agencies from Sudan by the Government of Sudan and the suspension of the operations of three leading local organisations which provided protection and humanitarian aid. Along…
Recent claims by the Sudanese government that the situation in Darfur is improving are not borne out by reality, fifteen organizations said in a report released today. In an effort to bolster their argument that the U.N. Security Council should suspend the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) consideration of an arrest warrant against President Omar al-Bashir,…
This paper is the first of a series of working papers that form part of a collaborative project between IRRI, SSRC, the Civil Society and the Various Academic Partners in the Great Lakes region. The project seeks to gain a deeper understanding of the linkages between conflicts over citizenship and belonging in the Great Lakes…
Human rights and civil society activists meeting on the margins of the historic first tripartite summit of the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC), and Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Kampala, have asked the three regional bodies to harmonize their work, promote economic justice and ensure early warning…
Following the entry into force in June 2008 of the Pact on Security, Stability and Development in Africa’s Great Lakes region (the Great Lakes Pact), the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) and the International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) released The Great Lakes Pact and the Rights of Displaced People: A Guide for…
