A A
Home | Migration, mobility and employment | Migration and mobility | International Protection

International Protection

Both parties will deepen their political dialogue on the human rights, including social, economic and cultural rights of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in this partnership and in other relevant fora. In the framework of this dialogue, both parties will notably exchange views on lessons learnt and best practices on the implementation of existing instruments, such as the 1969 OAU Convention on Refugees, the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the status of refugees and its 1967 Protocol, the 2009 AU Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa, and other relevant human rights instruments as well as international humanitarian law instruments.
Source: Migration, Mobility and Employment Partnership
2nd Action Plan 2011-2013

African and European partners have decided to further improve their cooperation on international protection.Among the priorities of the MME Partnership figures the need to address the root causes of refugee flows and enhance capacities to provide international protection to all persons in need of it.

A few definitions

According to the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, a refugee is a person who “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country” (5 essential elements). The 1967 New York Protocol that accompanies it has removed geographical and temporal restrictions from the Convention.

The Convention also defines the main elements constituting the scope of protection in the country of asylum, and specifies the standards of treatment, and the status of a refugee (rights and obligations). The Convention also provides the basis for the three ‘durable solutions’ for persons in need of protection: voluntary repatriation, local integration and resettlement to a third country if a person can neither go back home, nor remain in the country of asylum.

In addition to refugee status, there are also other forms of protection (e.g. subsidiary or complementary forms of protection). The grounds for this protection, as well as its content, lie outside the scope of the Geneva Convention but can be found in different international human rights instruments.

States’ obligation to protect displaced persons derives primarily from the so-called principle of non-refoulement, which prescribes that a person cannot be returned to a place where his or her life or freedom could be threatened. It is important to note that the principle also applies by presumption not only to persons granted refugee status, but to all migrants, and hence covers irregular migrants and individuals who have sought protection and whose claim has not yet been assessed (‘asylum seekers’).

One precondition for achieving refugee status is that the person in need of protection must be outside the country of their nationality or, in the case of stateless persons, outside the country of residence. Persons who have been forced to flee their home, often for the same reasons as refugees, but who did not cross the border of their country of origin, are referred to as “internally displaced persons” (IDPs).

In Africa, countries like Somalia, DRC, Sudan and Uganda are home to hundreds of thousands of IDPs. South Africa was in 2009 the world’s largest recipient of individual applications for asylum. Within the EU, the main African country of origin of asylum seekers in 2009 was Somalia.

Instruments to enforce international protection

The 1969 OAU Convention on refugees expands the definition of a refugee by including additional grounds for protection, such as external aggression.

1. For the purposes of this Convention, the term "refugee" shall mean every person who, owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country, or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.

2. The term "refugee" shall also apply to every person who, owing to external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or events seriously disturbing public order in either part or the whole of his country of origin or nationality, is compelled to leave his place of habitual residence in order to seek refuge in another place outside his country of origin or nationality.
Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugees Problems in Africa

In addition, international humanitarian law guarantees the principle of non-refoulement and regulates the protection of refugees in time of war. Human rights treaties and customary law are also effective tools to protect refugees, other persons in need of protection and asylum seekers (e.g. the right to asylum in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union).

The protection  of IDPs is primarily subject to national laws, as they have not left their country of origin. However, although international law does not specifically address the plight of IDPs, it does grant certain forms of protection: international human rights law, international humanitarian law, and international criminal law constitute a comprehensive framework for the protection of IDPs in all situations, including in the case of armed conflict. IDPs in Africa are furthermore covered the provisions of the recently adopted AU Kampala Convention for the protection and assistance of internally displaced persons in Africa.

The 2010 Handbook for the Protection of IDPs is the main reference document for legal and operational matters in IDP protection. It provides operational guidance and tools to support effective protection responses in situations of internal displacement. More than 30 humanitarian organisations collaborated in the drafting of the Handbook, which was led by UNHCR.

Within the EU, Member States are in the process of harmonising their asylum procedures and protection statuses to attain the objective of establishing a Common European Asylum System with a single asylum procedure and uniform international protection status across the Union. Besides the approximation of legislation, EU Member States benefit from an EU fund as well as the support of the newly created European Asylum Support Office (EASO).

Related initiatives

A series of initiatives are undertaken by European and African partners in the area of international protection. Among them is worth flagging the development of Regional Protection Programmes (RPPs). RPPs are a policy tool developed by the EU to assist refugees, but also to assist countries faced with major refugee flows, including transit countries. They enable refugees to find protection in regions close to their countries of origin – since the majority of refugees manage to move only as far as their neighbouring regions. RPPs aim to enhance, through capacity-building, protection capacities in these countries and regions, and to support durable solutions, especially in protracted refugee situations. Resettlement in EU countries of refugees that are not able to return is an important component of each RPP. 

The first RPP in Africa was established in 2006 in Tanzania/Great Lakes. Another RPP was launched in September 2010 in the Horn of Africa (Kenya, Djibouti, Yemen). Current developments encompass possible projects in North Africa (Egypt, Tunisia, Libya), as well as the continuation of activities in Tanzania.

Further reading

Africa

Europe

International

Top | Copyright claim | Legal notice | Contact | Last update on: 2012-05-16 17:06:13
This website is managed jointly by the African Union Commission and the European Commission.