Migration in Africa: filling in the gaps and strengthening the regional refugee protection and migration regime

Conference item

African states have long recognised the need for context-specific and custom-tailored solutions to the various aspects of migration. Africa has taken exceptional initiative in developing regional legal frameworks on refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). The paper focusses on the OAU Refugee Convention which is almost half a century old. Yet, despite its much celebrated innovative aspects, contains significant gaps, is outdated in some aspects, and seems rather incomplete. The paper proposes amending the Refugee Convention to make it more responsive to the contemporary refugee situation in Africa and enhance the protection of refugees and their rights. Concerning voluntary migration, the paper focusses on the prospects of free movement of persons on the continent. Significant progress has been made within individual regional blocs towards meeting this objective. However, in a more general sense, the free movement of persons, which is key to facilitating and increasing intra-African migration and integration, is yet to be fully enjoyed and effectively realised in Africa. The paper strongly advocates for a regional approach towards migration. Regional economic communities are in a more advantageous position than either the African Union or individual states to promote and manage migration in all its manifold dimensions.

Authors: Nalule, C

• Publication status: Not published
• Peer review status: Reviewed (other)
• Acceptance date: 2017-10-25
• Event title: Sixth Forum on International Law and African Union Law
• Event location: Malabo, Equatorial Guinea
• Event website: https://au.int/pt/node/32054
• Event start date: 2017-12-04
• Event end date: 2017-12-05
• Language: English
• Keywords: migration; Regional Economic Communities (RECs); OAU Refugee Convention; refugee protection; free movement of persons; FFR