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International
Conference on Refugee Protection
in the Great Lakes Region Ten Years After the
Rwandan Genocide
From April 14-16, 2004, human rights advocates, scholars, and representatives
of inter-governmental organizations will come together in Kampala,
Uganda, to take stock of the state of refugee protection in the Great
Lakes region a decade after the exodus of almost two million Rwandans
in the wake of the genocide there.
Human Rights First (formerly the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights)
is organizing the conference, entitled "Ten Years After the
Rwandan Exodus: Assessing Refugee Protection in the Great Lakes"
in collaboration with four regional organizations, the Refugee
Law Project of Makerere University, Uganda, the Refugee Consortium
of Kenya, the African NGO Refugee Protection Network, and the Centre
for the Study of Forced Migration, Dar es Salaam.
The United Nations has designated April 7th 2004 the International
Day of Reflection on the genocide in Rwanda, marking the tenth anniversary
of the events which unleashed the Rwandan genocide in 1994, in which
nearly a million people were killed. The genocide was followed by
the flight of some two million Rwandans, the largest and fastest refugee
movement in history, who spread out into the Great Lakes region. This
extraordinary exodus of refugees, government militias, and rebels
set in motion events which have engulfed the Great Lakes region in
almost a decade of unrest. Although many of those who initially fled
have been able to return home, since that time millions more have
been forced into exile in the countries of the Great Lakes.
Over the past decade, Human Rights First has worked to monitor the
impacts of these changes and to build more sustainable models of protection.
The cornerstone of this effort was a comprehensive study of one of
the most visible failures of the Rwanda emergency-the failure to provide
security in the contexts of massive movements of refugees. Refugees,
Rebels and the Quest of Justice, the culmination of this research,
explores the security and protection challenges posed by mass population
movements in which refugees are accompanied by combatants and those
evading accountability for the most serious human rights crimes. It
sets out an Agenda for Action designed to prepare governments and
the international community to respond decisively to future emergencies.
The Great Lakes conference is being held amid signs that the region's
tradition of providing generous sanctuary is being eroded. Concerns
about the security and economic implications of hosting large numbers
of refugees-intensified by the rhetoric of the global war on terror-are
generating harsher measures against the displaced. Diminishing international
support and a continuing lack of adequate "burden sharing" with hard
pressed governments in the region have exacerbated the pressures.
As refugees and the displaced become easy scapegoats, there are reports
of a resurgence of the use of force against refugees, increasing disregard
for the voluntary nature of repatriation, and a diminished respect
for the role and authority of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR).
The conference will give participants an opportunity to review trends
in refugee protection in the region as well as to identify the key
challenges going forward. The conference will articulate recommendations
for improvements in practice and policy as well as to begin to formulate
a coordinated advocacy strategy.
Participants will include expert representatives of international
and local NGOs working with refugees in the region, academics, UNHCR,
the U.N. system, and independent experts and members of parliaments
in the region.
For more information please see www.humanrightsfirst.org
or contact Déirdre Clancy, Director, International Refugee Program
or Dismas Nkunda, Africa Coordinator at 1-212-845-5287 or 256 41 290
697 or 256 78 31 04 04
(from April 12-18th).
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