By Yelibenwork Ayele

 A legal framework should be put in place to protect the lives and properties of internally displaced people in Africa, said participants of a seminar jointly organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the African Union (AU) on Tuesday.

The meeting was organized to raise awareness on the issues of internal displacement and set the groundwork for a special summit at the end of the year. Although several bodies of law address the issue indirectly the summit in December is hoped to adopt legislation that is specifically relevant to the problems of the internally displaced.

"What the displaced need most is for states and armed groups to demonstrate the necessary political will to apply and enforce the rules and principles of international and humanitarian law, said Christine Beeri, vice president of ICRC.  

There is no specific treaty on a universal level that deals with internal displacement. However, international law addresses the issue and several items of legislation are relevant for displacement.

International human rights law consist of many treaties and declarations, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, or the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In Africa in particular, the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and other African human rights treaties protect the rights of people in Africa.

Human rights instruments do not specifically address internal displacement; but they are inherent in the human being and apply to any one regardless of whether the person is at home or not.

In situations of armed conflict, international humanitarian law regulates the obligations of parties to the conflict. Humanitarian law addresses the issue of displacement specifically. It prohibits the displacement of persons unless their own security or imperative military reasons so demand. If people are displaced, all possible measure must be taken so that the civilian population may be received under satisfactory conditions of shelter, hygiene, health, safety  and nutrition.

As the majority of internally displaced people are national of the state in which they find themselves, they are entitled to the full protection of national law and the rights it grants nationals, without any adverse distinction resulting from the fact of their displacement.

The pact on security, stability and development in the Great Lakes Region, adopted at the international conference on the Great Lakes Region in December 2006, marks a significant development in the protection of internally displaced people in  ten countries of Africa, with its protocol on the protection and assistance to internally displaced persons and its protocol on the property rights of returning persons, the pact recognizes the specific problems that displacement causes, and addresses them in imaginative and pragmatic ways.

The protocol on returning persons requires states to set up mechanisms for the recovery of property by displaced persons or refugees, thereby addressing one of the major obstacles to the return of people who have fled  their homes.

In the face of the terrible plight of displaced persons on the African continent and the challenges faced by governments to prevent displacement, and protect displaced persons, the member states of the African Union have decided to draft a regional convention for the protection and assistance of internally displaced persons.