The Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention) it is the world’s first continental instrument that legally binds governments to protect the rights and wellbeing of people forced to flee their homes by conflict, violence, disasters and human rights abuses. The convention is a shared framework, but the continent’s diverse realities and challenges mean that individual countries have taken different approaches to it.

The objectives of this Convention are to

1. Promote and strengthen regional and national measures to prevent or mitigate, prohibit and eliminate root causes of internal displacement as well as provide for durable solutions;
2. Establish a legal framework for preventing internal displacement, and protecting and assisting internally displaced persons in Africa;
3. Establish a legal framework for solidarity, cooperation, promotion of durable solutions and mutual support between the States Parties in order to combat displacement and address its consequences;
4. Provide for the obligations and responsibilities of States Parties, with respect to the prevention of internal displacement and protection of, and assistance, to internally displaced persons;
5. Provide for the respective obligations, responsibilities and roles of armed groups, non-state actors and other relevant actors, including civil society organizations, with respect to the prevention of internal displacement and protection of, and assistance to, internally displaced persons;