AFRICA / DISPLACED

A ground breaking convention that would offer protection to millions of uprooted Africans has been adopted by heads of State at an AU Special Summit in Kampala. Across the continent, there are an estimated 11.6 million people who've been forced from their homes because of violence- but remain in their own country. UNHCR

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:52
• Production Date: 23 October 2009
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES - UNHCR
• Subject Topical: REFUGEES; DISPLACED PERSONS
• Geographic Subject: AFRICA
• MAMS Id: U091023a

Description

STORY: AFRICA / DISPLACED
TRT: 2.52
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: RECENT / FILE

Shotlist

FILE – UNHCR – 6, 7 SEPTEMBER 2009, NEAR MOGADISHU SOMALIA,

1. Wide shot, camp
2. Med shot, men looking on behind gate
3. Wide shot, camp
4. Close up, mans looking on behind gate
5. Med shot, men entering camp
6. Wide shot, crowd
7. Wide shot, boy carrying branches

3 APRIL 2009, GENEVA SWITZERLAND

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Antonio Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees:
“If you are internally displaced, you are under the responsibility of the authorities of your own country and in many circumstances it is very difficult for them to grant protection and assistance and we witness also several areas in which the international community also struggles to be able to support those activities.”

FILE – UNHCR – 1-5 APRIL 2009, EASTERN CHAD

9. Wide shot, camp
10. Wide shot, camp with line of IDPs
11. Med shot, fire with pots
12. Various shots, IDPs sitting on the ground
13. Med shot, IDPs riding donkeys
14. Pan right, camp
15. Wide shot, line of IDPs
16. Wide shot, boy and IDPs behind him

20 APRIL 2009, GHANA

17. SOUNDBITE (English) Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary-General:
“States do have a responsibility to protect their people from ethnic cleansing, from crimes against humanity and that where the state fails or manifestly cannot do it, the international community has a responsibility to step in and help protect them. And so I hope this emerging new norm will also help get the message across that governments cannot hide behind sovereignty as a shield behind which people are brutalized or whose rights are abused.”

FILE – UNHCR – 1-5 JUNE 2009, GOMA, DR CONGO

18. Wide shot, man riding bike
19. Med shot, IDPs on a road

FILE – UNHCR - 15-17 SEPTEMBER 2008, NORTHERN UGANDA, NEAR KITGUM

20. Wide shot, children and camp behind them
21. Med shot, child in between two women
22. Various shots, f etching water
23. Various shots students

27 AUGUST 2009

24. SOUNDBITE (English) Graça Machel, children’s rights activist:
“You know years of education lost for a generation or two of kids is irreplaceable. You can try to catch up- you build schools you train teachers etcetera but those years which were lost you will never recover.”

FILE – UNHCR – 1-5 APRIL 2009, EASTERN CHAD, SHOWS

25. Wide shot, men walking at camp

Storyline

Nearly half the world’s internally displaced people live in Africa, spread over 20 countries. Often gathered together in camps, they form massive populations living in precarious limbo. The African Union Summit will focus on the need to protect their rights.

SOUNDBITE (English) Antonio Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees:
“If you are internally displaced, you are under the responsibility of the authorities of your own country and in many circumstances it is very difficult for them to grant protection and assistance and we witness also several areas in which the international community also struggles to be able to support those activities.”

While the number of refugees in Africa has fallen dramatically since 1994, the numbers of those internally displaced has remained very high. Helping these vulnerable people can be particularly hard for aid organizations as access depends on approval from national governments. To date, there is no international treaty to protect their rights.

SOUNDBITE (English) Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary-General:
“States do have a responsibility to protect their people from ethnic cleansing, from crimes against humanity and that where the state fails or manifestly cannot do it, the international community has a responsibility to step in and help protect them. And so I hope this emerging new norm will also help get the message across that governments cannot hide behind sovereignty as a shield behind which people are brutalized or whose rights are abused.”

Until action is taken to improve their conditions and protect their rights, these huge populations will be condemned to life in limbo. Some have been living like this for years. And there are other costs to their continued displacement: depletion of forests and grazing areas exact an enduring toll on the environment. Millions of people reaching adulthood with little or no education, and with no hope for the future, also represent a threat to the region’s security.

SOUNDBITE (English) Graça Machel, children’s rights activist:
“You know years of education lost for a generation or two of kids is irreplaceable. You can try to catch up- you build schools you train teachers etcetera but those years which were lost you will never recover.”

It remains to be seen whether agreement will be reached on what would be a groundbreaking convention. The fate of millions hangs in the balance.