Decision on Humanitarian Situation in Africa

DECISION ON HUMANITARIAN SITUATION IN AFRICA

Doc. EX.CL/1051 (XXXII)

The Executive Council,

1. NOTES WITH CONCERN the growing number of Refugees, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and irregular Migrants in Africa and the complexity of humanitarian crises driven mostly by conflicts, natural disasters and climate change with devastating effects to millions of people across the continent;

2. FURTHER EXPRESSES DEEP CONCERN on the dire humanitarian situation of African migrants in Libya trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe;

3. WELCOMES the establishment of a Th-partite Task Force by the African Union together with the European Union and the United Nations represented by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that is undertaking voluntary humanitarian evacuation of migrants from Libya;

4. COMMENDS Member States who are working tirelessly to ensure the safe and dignified return and reintegration of their nationals from Libya;

5. ALSO COMMENDS the Government of Libya for the measures taken, including in collaboration with the Commission, to resolve the situation of migrants;

6. URGES countries of origin of migrants to control their borders to stem the flow of irregular migration;

7. REAFFIRMS its previous decisions on the adoption and implementation of key AU humanitarian instruments particularly the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention) and CALLS ON Member States that have not done so to sign, ratify and implement the Kampala Convention;

8. URGES Member States and the Commission to work in collaboration with UNHCR in implementing the New York Declaration on Large Scale Movement of Refugees, particularly with regard to implementing the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework and contribute to the development of the Global Compact for Refugees;

9. TAKES NOTE of the cessation clause for Rwandan refugees, which came into effect in January 2018 and CALLS ON all Member States to work with the UNHCR and the Government of Rwanda to ensure its implementationI;

10. CALLS UPON the international community to support robust peace initiatives by the AU and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) aimed at addressing root causes of humanitarian crises that have resulted in protracted displacements;

11. STRESSES the need for continued efforts on the humanitarian situation in the continent in close collaboration with Member States and the relevant stakeholders in order to tackle the root causes of the situation of refugees and migrants within the framework of political solutions of the real factors generating such situations;

12. REQUESTS the Commission to facilitate the convening of an Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government on forced displacement and humanitarian crisis in Africa to address the root causes and accelerate the implementation of the Common African Position on Humanitarian Effectiveness, including the operationalization of the African Humanitarian Agency.