This is a compilation of the tweets by the Africa Regional Coordinator of the International Detention Coalition. For live updates, follow @IDCAfrica
Regional: New report from the Special Rapporteur on Prisons, Conditions of Detention and Policing in Africa from the 57th Session of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights
“Statelessness is like a disease, you pass it on to your children”. UNHCR calls for an end to the ‘disease’ of statelessness in West Africa through better laws, concrete data and widespread education. Undocumented migrants are often exposed to “horrific treatment” including indefinite detention, said UNHCR senior regional protection officer Emmanuelle Mitte.
There are more than a million stateless persons within West Africa, whom with no documented nationality are unable to access basic human rights such as work, healthcare and education, as well as remaining particularly vulnerable to abuse.
As the International annual 16 Days of Activism against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence gets under way, The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on ending child marriages in contexts of displacement.
Burundi: New report assesses the protection needs of people displaced by current political crisis.
Uganda: On Universal Childrens Day, IDC Member Refugee Law Project spotlights the disjuncture between Uganda’s progressive refugee policies and child protection laws, and their limited enforcement when it comes to refugee children in the country.
Nigeria: “Come back home” says the Nigerian government to people internally displaced (IDP) by the conflict with Boko Haram. As the government plans to close IDP camps and send residents back to their homes, some are concerned that this is a premature move, and that it is not safe yet for return.
This UNHCR Q&A discusses the challenges to ending to displacement in Nigeria.
Kenya: Somali refugee returns from Kenya must be voluntary. As the Kenyan government actively urges Somali refugees to return home, Refugees International calls on UNHCR to “insist on the voluntariness of return and to desist from any action intended to induce or entice refugees to repatriate”. Over the past two decades, nearly half a million Somalis have sought refuge in Kenya, the vast majority of whom live in the Dadaab camps in the country’s North Eastern province.
Burundi: Residents flee capital as senior officials threaten mass violence amid crackdown on opposition to President Pierre Nkurunziza’s government. At least 200 people have died ,and 200,000 have fled the country in the current turmoil, stoking fears the violence could develop into mass blood-letting.
Cameroon: Football star Samuel Eto’o and President Mr Paul Biya advocate for education for displaced people in the West Africa region, and raise funds to support refugees on the ground.