DECISION ON THE HUMANITARIAN SITUATION IN AFRICA
Doc. EX.CL/1082(XXXIII)
The Executive Council,
1. NOTES WITH CONCERN the seriousness and complexities of the humanitarian situation in Africa which continues to be driven by conflicts, terrorism, political instability and natural disasters, including climate change related issues;
2. STRESSES the importance of political, economic and social solutions to humanitarian challenges on the continent and URGES Member States to scale up efforts on tangible measures to address the structural root causes of humanitarian crises and forced displacement;
3. COMMENDS Member States that continue to host refugees, IDPs and migrants for their solidarity and hospitality in the spirit of Pan-Africanism;
4. RECOGNIZES the importance of involving the host communities when providing humanitarian aid to refugees as they share the same fragile infrastructure;
5. ENCOURAGES Member States to enhance sustainable investment on building capacities to prevent, prepare, respond and recover from conflict-related, human induced and natural disasters and take measures to put an end to conflicts;
6. REQUESTS Member States to implement the priorities and commitments stipulated in the Common African Position on Humanitarian Effectiveness to strengthen humanitarian action at national, regional and continental levels, in close cooperation with international humanitarian actors;
7. COMMENDS the efforts of Member States, Commission and the humanitarian partners of the AU, including the UN International Organization of Migration (IOM), which supported and facilitated the safe, voluntary and dignified return of stranded African migrants and refugees in Libya and WELCOMES the efforts made by Libya in addressing the issue in cooperation with the international community;
8. CALLS ON Member States to implement the Executive Council decision, EX.CL/Dec.709(XXI), which called for the gradual increment of the contribution from the AU Budget to the Humanitarian Fund from 2 to 4 percent;
9. ENCOURAGES Member States to adopt and implement policies in respect of reintegration and rehabilitation of returnees;
10. CALLS ON Member States that have not yet done so, to sign, ratify and implement the OAU Convention governing the specific aspects of refugee problems in Africa and the AU Convention for the protection and assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa;
11. URGES Member States to implement the African common position on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration which will be adopted at the Intergovernmental Conference to be held in Marrakech, Morocco, on 10 and 11 December 2018, so as to allow Africa to speak with one voice;
12. UNDERLINES the importance of studies, research, data collection and information exchange in the field of migration and refugees for an efficient and coherent African humanitarian action at the national, regional and continental levels;
13. EXPRESSES DEEP CONCERN on the recent outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) and CALLS ON Member States to render requisite support to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to effectively respond and prevent future incidents of EVD;
14. REQUESTS :
(i) the Commission to develop capacity and mechanisms to gather, analyse and share reliable and verifiable humanitarian data in Africa and to obtain the statistics on the humanitarian situation in Africa from the competent national institutions;
(ii) the Commission, in collaboration with the PRC and other stakeholders, to prepare a Concept Note and Roadmap for 2019 Theme as “the Year of Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons: Towards Durable Solutions to Forced Displacement in Africa”;
15. ENCOURAGES host countries to continue assisting refugees that wish to voluntarily return to their countries of origin;
16. INVITES the Commission to accelerate the process of the operationalization of the African Humanitarian Agency, in line with the relevant Policy Organs decisions;
17. URGES Member States to sign the African Risk Capacity (ARC) Establishment Treaty and work closely with the institution to develop and scale up programmes and risk financing tools to address natural disasters, including climate-induced disasters and food insecurity;
18. RECALLS Executive Council decision EX.CL/Dec.968(XXXI) and RECOMMENDS to the Assembly to declare 2019 as “the Year of Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons : Towards Durable Solutions to Forced Displacement in Africa”.