NIGERIA has urged members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to ratify and domesticate the African Union (AU) convention on Internally Displaced Persons (IDP)
The convention is meant to strengthen countries' collective capacity to address the challenges of humanitarian assistance and save thriving economies from dislocations and attendant drop in their Gross Domestic Products.
Nigeria's call was made by the chairman of ECOWAS, President Goodluck Jonathan, at the end of the first ministerial conference on humanitarian assistance and internal displacement at the weekend in Abuja.
The ECOWAS commission said that Jonathan's submission on the need to strengthen existing mechanisms through the ratification of the AU convention is still imperative despite the fact that there already exists a relief and support architecture of the community at the sub-regional level.
The AU text also known as the Kampala Convention was adopted by the African leaders in 2009 to address the problems of humanitarian assistance and internal displacement on the continent.
According to AU records, some 31 signatures and six ratifications had been recorded, while six other member states have reportedly completed the ratification by Friday last week.
Speaking through the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Martin Uhomoibhi, the Nigerian leader also stressed the need for the strengthening of "our democratic structures to ensure good governance as an antidote to political and economic marginalisation, which breeds social and political convulsions in our communities."
According to President Jonathan, ECOWAS needs to review and strengthen appropriate mechanisms and institutions in the region "to be able to respond speedily and efficiently to internal shocks, including disasters."
The ECOWAS Commission Vice President, Jean de Dieu Somda, recalled that ECOWAS member states played a key role in the process that led to the adoption of the convention, which he described as the first legal instrument on internal displacement with continental scope.
He said the ministerial conference, organised in conjunction with the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the AU and support of the Government of Finland, was an ECOWAS initiative at supporting the achievements of the Kampala Convention.
"In developing strategies and setting standards to achieve our collective goals in assisting and protecting IDPs in West Africa, there is the need for the region to identify the root causes of displacement," he added.
In her statement of support read by the UN Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, Dauda Toure, the UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, said "where we are unable to prevent conflict and violence, we must stop accepting internal displacement as its inevitable consequence. More can and must be done to prevent displacement and avert the cycle of despair, deprivation and destitution that almost inevitably ensue."
While reaffirming the UN systems support, the senior UN official underscored the role of international humanitarian organisations and civil society towards the ratification and implementation of the Convention.
The UN Special Rapporteur on IDPs, Chaloka Beyani, noted that "the situation of internally displaced persons affects the stability of states because a stable state in international law is built on a stable population."
The Guardian