The Rights Of Internally Displaced Persons In Africa: The Case Of Cote D’ivoire

ABSTRACT This study aims at highlighting the plight of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), the grave violations of human rights they are victims of and the multiple difficulties they find themselves in for being forcibly displaced, on the one hand, and the absence of internationally recognized legal instruments on the rights of IDPs and institution with the specific mandate of protection and assistance to internally-displaced persons (IDPs), on the other hand. This work focuses on Cote d’Ivoire as a case-study. It aims at finding the extent to which the absence of specific legal instruments and institutions for the protection and promotion of the rights of IDPs has affected the case of IDPs in that country. To do so, the work reviews the international bill of rights comprising the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and their implementation mechanisms. In addition, the work examines, inter alia, the provisions of international humanitarian law (in particular, the four Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols) and the African human rights protection system to determine the alternate ways that can be found to ensure IDPs the full enjoyment of all their human rights. Finally, the work examines the new African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons and its effectiveness or otherwise in filling the gaps and weaknesses identified in the international system. The findings conclude that though there is no internationally recognized Convention on the rights of IDPs, IDPs’ rights can be deduced from existing provisions and can be enforced through existing mechanisms. With respect to the African Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons, the work concludes that it serves as an important instrument to anchor the rights of IDPs in treaty law and that it is an effective protective mechanism for IDPs in African and can serve as a guide for other regional systems or the UN. However, it also possesses its own weaknesses which the work seek to expose and address. The study ends by recommending to the international community, including United Nations, its agencies and partners, governments and civil society organizations to take certain practical steps towards the elaboration of a Convention on the protection and promotion of the rights of IDPs and designate or create a UN agency with the mandate of protection of IDPs.