The Great Lakes region has been the site of more than a decade of unrest. The outflow of more than two million Rwandans in the wake of the 1994 genocide was an exodus of unprecedented size and swiftness. The failure of the international community to respond effectively set in motion further cycles of conflict in the region, including a devastating war in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has involved many other countries in Africa and has claimed the lives of more than three million people.
Elsewhere in the region, a decades-long conflict in northern Uganda has abated in intensity, but the rebel Lord's Resistance Army has increased its activities in DRC and the Central African Republic.
As a whole, the region continues to host more than a million refugees and ten million internally displaced persons.
One major source of these conflicts have been disputes over group and national membership: ethnic, racial, and religious populations have been identified as illegitimate members of local communities and nations, and their exclusion has been used to legitimise individual persecution, ethnic violence, civil war and genocide. Targeted populations have been forcibly displaced from their homes, social networks, and governmental protection, and have been forced to seek refuge within their own countries and across borders. In order to meet this challenge, a region-wide approach is needed to generate appropriate networks for sharing information and carrying out joint advocacy initiatives. IRRI's citizenship program seeks to address this challenge.
These series of crises have made the Great Lakes a key testing ground not only for humanitarian response but for efforts to tackle the root causes of these conflicts. In particular the region has been site of experiments in the pursuit of international justice, from the International Criminal Court's investigations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and the Central African Republic to experiments in internationalised justice for Burundi and Rwanda.
There are signs of hope: peace is taking a tenuous hold in Burundi and democratic elections were held in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006. At the regional level, the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region is laying the framework for peace, stability and greater regional integration, having adopted a Pact on Security, Stability and Development in December 2006 which entered into force in June 2008.
19 September, 2008:
The Great Lakes Pact and the Rights of Displaced People: A Guide for Civil Society
Following the entry into force in June 2008 of the Pact on Security, Stability and Development in Africa’s Great Lakes region (the Great Lakes Pact), the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) and the International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) released The Great Lakes Pact and the Rights of Displaced People: A Guide for Civil Society. The Guide aims to help organisations use the Great Lakes Pact to promote the rights of refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) in the region.
Read the Guide in English here.
En francais.
You may download and print our Great Lakes informational brochure here.
Recent publications of the International Refugee Rights Initiative related to the Great Lakes region:
"Sound alarm bells over forced repatriation," January 2010.
"Two People Can't Wear the Same Pair of Shoes: Exploring the Challenges of Access to Land and Reintegration in Burundi," November 2009.
"Anti-Homosexuality or Anti-Human Rights Bill?" October 2009.
"'I don’t know where to go': Burundian Refugees in Tanzania under Pressure to Leave," September 2009.
"The Principle of Complementarity under Scrutiny: The ICC Rules DRC Unwilling to Prosecute Katanga in Attack of Bogoro Village," Refugee Rights News, Volume 5, Issue 4, June 2009
"Justice and Reconciliation after Genocide: The Search for Co-existence in Rwanda on Film," Refugee Rights News, Volume 5, Issue 4, June 2009
"Repatriation or Else: Closing the Mtabila Refugee Camp in Tanzania," Refugee Rights News, Volume 5, Issue 4, June 2009
"Still in Search of Justice: Ten Years since the Disappearances of Over 350 in Republic of Congo," Refugee Rights News, Volume 5, Issue 3, May 2009
"The ICC Rejects Transfer of LRA Case to Uganda: What are the implications?" Refugee Rights News, Volume 5, Issue 3, May 2009
"The Outreach Challenge of the Lubanga Trial: Another First for the International Criminal Court,"Refugee Rights News, Volume 5, Issue 2, April 2009
"The Situation for Somali Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Kenya Worsens," Refugee Rights News, Volume 5, Issue 2, April 2009
"Confronting a Deficit: Decades of Injustice in northern Uganda," African Transitional Justice Newsletter, pp 3-4, February 2009.
"ASP Selects Kampala as Venue for Review Conference and Elects Judges," Refugee Rights News, Volume 5, Issue 1, February 2009
"Can the ICGLR IDP Protocol Help Reduce the Impact of Development-Induced Displacement in Uganda?" Refugee Rights News, Volume 5, Issue 1, February 2009
"Negotiating the Way Home: A Difficult Path for Returning Burundians ," Refugee Rights News, Volume 5, Issue 1, February 2009
"Kakuma Refugee Camp Residents Launch Newsletter and Blog," Refugee Rights News, Volume 5, Issue 1, February 2009
"What About Us? The Situation of Displaced Persons in the Great Lakes Region – NY event," Refugee Rights News, Volume 5, Issue 1, February 2009