African Union Summit

From 19 to 23 October 2009, the Ugandan capital of Kampala hosted an historic gathering of African leaders dedicated to the issue of forcibly displaced people.

Heads of state and government from across the continent attended the meeting, which developed a plan of action and adopted a landmark Convention for the protection of internally displaced people across Africa.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres addressed the meeting as representative of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The summit was convened to address root causes and find solutions for displacement; identify ways of preventing forced displacement; improve protection for the forcibly displaced; strengthening measures to meet the specific needs of displaced women and children; devise strategies to reduce the impact of natural disasters as a cause for displacement of people; develop approaches to facilitate the rebuilding of communities emerging from conflict; and enhance partnerships in addressing forced displacement across Africa.

The gathering comes 40 years after the key Organization of African Unity Convention on refugee protection. On the last day of the Kampala meeting, the participants adopted the AU Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa, which is the first legally binding international instrument on internal displacement having such broad regional scope. The Convention will provide a comprehensive regional framework governing the protection and assistance of IDPs – before, during and after displacement.

The phenomenon of internal displacement continues to expand on the African continent, even as refugee numbers progressively decline. At the beginning of this year, Africa was home to an estimated 11.6 million internally displaced people (IDP), or about 45 percent of the world's IDPs. The continent also has some 2,659,000 refugees and asylum-seekers. Some two million people were newly displaced during the course of last year.

In Photos: The Challenge of Forced Displacement in Africa

15 October 2009

Africa is the continent most affected by the tragedy of forced displacement. While millions of refugees have been able to return to Angola, Burundi, Liberia, Rwanda and South Sudan over the last 15 years, the numbers of internally displaced people have continued to grow. This photo gallery looks at some of the forcibly displaced around Africa, many millions of whom are helped by UNHCR.

A newly arrived refugee from the Darfur region of Sudan rests next to her belongings in Seneit, Birak area, eastern Chad.

Teenager Conwell plays football at the Boy's Shelter in Nancefield, Musina, South Africa. The shelter houses more than 200 boys aged up to 16. Most of the boys crossed the border unaccompanied. They are given food, shelter and lessons.

Thousands of people flee the IDP site at Kibati, in Democratic Republic of the Congo’s North Kivu province, after hearing gunfire.

Continuing violence in Somalia has led to more and more civilians seeking refuge across the border in Kenya, but UNHCR is struggling to cope with the thousands of new arrivals at the camps who need shelter, food and medical attention.

An internally displaced Liberian family waits to board the truck that will take them home after an aid distribution at Salala IDP camp, Gbarnga.

Somali children in the Bulo Jawaanley camp for the internally displaced, South Galkayo, Somalia.

Makeshift shelters and new tents in a section for new arrivals at Ifo, one of the three refugee camps at Dadaab in north-east Kenya.

Through a special community empowerment project, these displaced people are building a school, and a roof for the market place in Gbarlatuah Town, Bong County, Liberia.

An Eritrean refugee waits to make a call at a telephone bureau in Kilo 26 refugee camp. On the wall behind him are the call rates for countries around the world.

A UNHCR staff member registers a displaced family so that they can move from Kibati IDP site to the Mugunga 1 site in North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Newly-arrived teenage refugees from Eritrea rest in the male reception centre of the Wad Sherife refugee camp in eastern Sudan.

Children from the Central African Republic, who were displaced by an attack on their village, attend class at a bush school near the Chadian border.

Sudanese refugees celebrate their return to their home village of Moli in South Sudan. Many of them have lived as refugees in Uganda for more than a decade.

A Sudanese refugee from Darfur pulls up a jerry can filled with water from the main water point in Seneit, used both by the local Chadian population and refugees in the Birak area of eastern Chad.

An internally displaced Congolese child displays his UNHCR arm tag prior to being transferred, along with other vulnerable civilians, to the Mugunga 1 camp in Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Every evening, the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg, South Africa, provides shelter to almost 4,000 Zimbabwean refugees. People sleep wherever they can find space.