The regional law of refugee protection in Africa

Thesis

This work offers an analysis of the legal regime for refugee protection in Africa, broadly construed as including both refugee law and human rights elements. The regime is addressed in two parts.

Part One analyses the treaty regime, principally comprised of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, the 1969 Organization of African Unity Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. The latter two regional instruments are examined in depth. This includes the first fulsome account of the 1969 Convention’s drafting, and original analysis of the relationships of interpretation and the relationships of conflict that arise between the various treaties comprising the regional refugee protection framework. Significant attention in this regard is devoted to various aspects of the relationship between the international and the regional refugee treaties, and to the relationships between African refugee law on the one hand and African human rights law on the other.

Part Two focuses on the institutional architecture supportive of the treaty framework addressed in Part One. The Organization of African Unity is addressed in a historical sense, and the contemporary roles of the African Union, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the various African human rights courts are canvassed.

This account of the treaty framework, and the institutional architecture, for refugee protection on the continent is the first broad analytical account of the regional law of refugee protection in Africa.

Authors: Sharpe, M

• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: African Union; International refugee law; Organization of African Unity Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa; Human rights; African refugee law; Refugee law
• Subjects: Refugees--Legal status, laws, etc.; Africa; Human rights