Civil Society recalls FG to IDP Plight.
The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has once again called on the Federal Government to look into the plights of Internally Displaced persons (IDPs).
The call was made by the Executive Director (CISLAC) Auwal Musa, who at the 2nd series of media and Civil Society meetings on Internal Displacement in Nigeria, said that the appreciable gains recorded by the security forces in recent times has not eliminated the glaring reality of the existence of an extremely high number of people who are in dire need of protection and assistance even in areas that have been declared safe.
Musa who was represented by Mr. Okeke Anya, stressed on the need for the country to put in place concrete institutional and legislative frameworks that are in line with the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa.
"The advantages of having in place state driven frameworks for managing displacement issues at country level cannot be overemphasized. It is needless to restate the importance of our advocacy for the adoption of both the draft National policy on IDPs as well as Domestication of the Kampala Convention". He said.
He further noted that these instruments when fully in force and applied Judiciously by all parties engaged in the humanitarian intervention will in the long run contribute to equitable and justiciable practices for all.
Also, in a paper presentation, the facilitator Mr. Esene Matthias stressed that return, relocation and resettlement as well as local integration and reintegration are approaches the government should take to implement durable and lasting solutions for the IDPs.
He further emphasized the need for government to tackle the issue of lack of protection for IDPs; change the law to give them special attentions to excerise their voting rights and put regulations to ensure that people are not arbitrarily displaced, adding that the solution for IDPs is for them to return back to their places.
Earlier in his remarks, the Senior Protection Officer United Nations Humanitarian Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) Dr. Allehone Abebe said that UNHCR is extremely in support of the domestication of the Kampala Conventions on IDPa which he said will allow clarity in terms of the right of the IDPs.
"For us IDPs are not victims. The images we paint about IDPs really may promote risk of stigmatization, we have to also tell the story of how IDPs are actually change agents. They are resourceful in spite of all the challenges they face".
The Kampala convention is the world's first continental instrument that legally binds governt to protect the rights of people forced to flee from their homes by conflicts violence, disasters and human right abuses. The convention was adopted in October 2009