Finland to Finance an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Conference Held by UNHCR and ECOWAS in July
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and UNHCR are holding the first ministerial conference on humanitarian assistance and internal displacement in West Africa. The conference will be held in Abuja, Nigeria, between the 5th and 7th of July, 2011. Finland is financing the whole 420 000 USD conference.
The first two days of the conference is meant for ECOWAS member state experts, and the final day will be a ministerial conference.
The aim of the IDP Conference is to push forward ratifications for the Kampala Convention, which was accepted by the African Union in 2009.
The Kampala Convention stands for the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa. The name was adopted after the Special Summit on Refugees, Returnees and IDPs, held in Kampala, Uganda, in October 2009.
The Kampala Convention is the first international legal instrument on internal displacement with continental scope. In order for the convention to take effect, at least 15 member states of the African Union have to ratify the convention. So far, only two countries in West Africa have ratified the convention: Sierra Leone and Gambia. Senegal, Niger, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau for example have not yet ratified the convention.
“One of the main aims of the Finnish humanitarian aid, besides practical aid work, is to develop the legal framework of humanitarian assistance”, says Director Ulla-Maija Finskas from the Unit for Humanitarian Assistance.
Finland also financed a similar seminar in 2010, which was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.