IOM Director General William Swing has welcomed moves by the
African Union (AU) to adopt a convention on the protection and
assistance of internally displaced people (IDPs) in Africa during a
special AU summit on refugees, returnees and IDPs ending today.

"The planned adoption of the convention by the AU heads of
states and governments indicate their commitment and that of the
African Union to find durable solutions to forced displacement on
the continent. It shows that Africa is now taking a global lead in
adopting a legally binding instrument on internal displacement,"
Swing said, adding that the adoption of the convention would be a
ground-breaking moment.

Forced displacement is a particularly pressing issue in Africa,
often at the centre of development challenges as well as peace and
stability on the continent.

Africa is also host to three of the largest IDP crises in the
world in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia. Sudan
alone has nearly five million internally displaced.

Nineteen countries across the continent host an estimated 11.8
million IDPs, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring
Centre (IDMC). Although Africa still hosts almost a half of the
world's total number of IDPs, which stands at 26 million, the ratio
of IDPs to the region's total population has, however, fallen
significantly.

The adoption of a convention that focuses on protecting and
assisting internally displaced people in Africa is of particular
interest to IOM, an organization that is heavily involved in the
humanitarian response to internal displacement across the world,
including Africa.

The Organization's programmes across Africa since the 1970s seek
to promote and strengthen national and regional measures to
prevent, mitigate or eliminate root causes of internal displacement
as well as to contribute to providing durable solutions. This
includes IDP and refugee voluntary resettlement, voluntary
repatriation, reintegration, as well as emergency and post-crisis
assistance.

For further information, please contact:

Jeremy Haslam

IOM Kampala

Tel: +256 312 261 179

E-mail: "mailto:jhaslam@iom.int">jhaslam@iom.int