1
Preamble
We, the Heads of State and Government of the Member States of the African
Union;
CONSCIOUS of the gravity of the situation of internally displaced persons as a
source of continuing instability and tension for African states;
ALSO CONSCIOUS of the suffering and specific vulnerability of internally
displaced persons;
REITERATING the inherent African custom and tradition of hospitality by local host
communities for persons in distress and support for such communities;
COMMITTED to sharing our common vision of providing durable solutions to
situations of internally displaced persons by establishing an appropriate legal
framework for their protection and assistance;
DETERMINED to adopt measures aimed at preventing and putting an end to the
phenomenon of internal displacement by eradicating the root causes, especially
persistent and recurrent conflicts as well as addressing displacement caused by
natural disasters, which have a devastating impact on human life, peace, stability,
security, and development;
CONSIDERING the 2000 Constitutive Act of the African Union and the 1945
Charter of the United Nations;
REAFFIRMING the principle of the respect of the sovereign equality of States
Parties, their territorial integrity and political independence as stipulated in the
Constitutive Act of the African Union and the United Nations Charter;
RECALLING the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1948
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the 1949
Four Geneva Conventions and the 1977 Additional Protocols to the Geneva
Conventions, the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of
Refugees and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, the 1969 OAU
Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, the
1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women,
the 1981 African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the 2003 Protocol to
the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in
Africa, the 1990 African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, the 1994
Addis Ababa Document on Refugees and Forced Population Displacement in
Africa, and other relevant United Nations and African Union human rights
instruments, and relevant Security Council Resolutions;