Protecting women displaced by conflicts in the Horn and Eastern Africa

The role of regional laws and institutions

Abstract

The Horn and Eastern Africa region faces a grave crisis of internal displacement triggered by various types of armed conflicts. Women bear the brunt of the disproportionate consequences of displacement often being subjected to sexual and gender based violence, human rights violations by parties to the conflicts, forced eviction, lack of access to social services, separation from families, and abuse and mistreatment in camps. The experience of displaced women in Somalia and Sudan represent stark examples of civilian suffering. Regional laws and institutions have emerged as key elements of an effective response to the phenomenon of internal displacement in a region where the willingness and capacity of the state is conspicuously weak. This is particularly true to regional and sub-regional mechanisms developed under the auspices of the African Union, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, the East African Community and the International Conferences on the Great Lakes Region. The African Union Convention on the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons and the two Great Lakes protocols related to internal displacement are innovative binding instruments, which promise protection and assistance to victims of displacement. Building effective institutions, which will be well positioned to implement this instrument is, therefore, an urgent task.