Nigeria Makes Case For IDPs At World Bank Spring Meeting

By Sunday Attah

The World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund’s 2017 Spring meetings ended with a call to have a global action plan by setting up a global protection working group under the World Bank to oversee the protection of the rights of the international displaced persons (IDPs) around the world. Estimated 40 million people are displaced from their home through armed conflict in Africa, Middle East, Asia and Latin America and have taken shelter in displaced camps for month and years without a coordinated approach to resettlement and re-integration.

The meeting took place on the 20th of April at the World Bank Headquarters, 1818 H Street, Washington DC and was conveyed by the Executive Director, African Internally Displaced Persons Voice Foundation, Mr. Oluwatobi Ogunbayo during the high level civil society policy forum of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund 2017 where issues of Resettlement and Integration of IDPs is at the top of the agenda.

Across the world, has been numerous laws that could be used to address the problem of displacement but none of these directly focused on the protection of and provision of assistance to IDPs and affected communities. In many countries, government’s response to displacement was ad hoc and reactive. Their leaving conditions are extremely precarious such as poor access to basic social services like water and sanitation, shelter, health and education.

In Nigeria, there is a rising case of HIV/AIDs in IDP camps with about 3,000 new cases Global aid agencies and multilateral institutions are on the verge of being stretched to their limit due to this growing concern. On the economic level, this population represents a total GDP of estimated $200 billion given the average per capital income across these of most countries in these regions to $5,000.

This should be a source of real concerns to nations and global agencies like the World bank and United Nations. This is also a huge manpower that can influence national and global economy as against the current trend where they have been added below poverty line. This has made this population poorer and poorer. To achieve the SDG targets of reducing poverty by 2030s, we must begin to address the issue of IDP resettlement and integration back to their communities.

After the Kampala Convention on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), much has not been done to protect the rights to new settlement for Internally Displaced Persons in mostly from across the World. IDPs are people who have fled their homes because of natural disaster or conflict based on religion, race, membership of a social group or political opinion but remain within their home country’s borders. Ethnicity and religion has often been cited as a major root causes of conflict and internal displacement in Africa, Asia and Middle East these factors are often manipulated to serve political interests, masking the genesis of displacement in poor governance, corruption, and inequitable access to land and or resources.

The lack of a strong legal policy framework, national government’s inability to confront security issues even in the save zones for IDPs as well as lack of strong involvement of international community to marshal greater financial and institutional support for displaced persons has over the years leave them unsettled, un-integrated, unproductive and vulnerable.

African Internally Displaced Persons Voice Foundation is a non-governmental organization registered in Nigeria that has been working on the rights of internally displaced persons and one of the few organization chosen by the World bank/ I.M.F to host a policy session at the 2017 Spring meeting of the World Bank Group. Many expert believe that to end poverty, these population needs to be urgently resettled and integrated back into their communities.

Major General Nuhu Angbazo, chief of civil military affairs who represented the Chief of Army Staff of the Federal Republic of Nigeria enumerated several successes achieved under the President Buhari led government and how the Nigerian Military has successfully defeated the insurgence that led to millions of people displaced in the North East to a post resettlement phase now of Military-civil engagement which has been cordial and help increase successes in the north east. He noted that no directive has been issued to return IDPs back to their communities but the Military has provided a grand security architecture for those returning to their homes and to further to deter such displacement in near future.

Other speakers includes Mr. Manfred Carew, Former Senior Advisor with Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Council, US and Dr. Gimena Sanchez-Garzoli, Senior fellow at the ANDES office of WOLA in Washington D.C., Ms. Philomena Desmond, Executive Director, Horizon Africa. Other recommendations includes the coordination of all national laws on IDP under the Global protection working group (GPWG) with a mandate to enhance the capacity of all actors to address the protection needs of IDPs, Implementation of the Kampala Accord on IDPs and domestication at national levels in all African Countries, World Bank Sponsored quick impact assessment projects targeted at IDPs and enforcement of restorative justice for abused people in IDP camps through holding national individuals or military personnel accountable.

Other recommendation includes Provision of save zones for those repatriating to their old homes or new ones with infusion of basic amenities and infrastructure to support their living. In the eventuality that they are not returning to their old homes, legal processes and rights to fully own the lands where they presently are with support of infrastructures. In remote scattered settlement, there is need to create new cities with urban infrastructure. International Monetary Fund’s 2017 Spring meetings ended with a call to have a global action plan by setting up a global protection working group under the World Bank to oversee the protection of the rights of the international displaced persons (IDPs) around the world. Estimated 40 million people are displaced from their home through armed conflict in Africa, Middle East, Asia and Latin America and have taken shelter in displaced camps for month and years without a coordinated approach to resettlement and re-integration.

The meeting took place on the 20th of April at the World Bank Headquarters, 1818 H Street, Washington DC and was conveyed by the Executive Director, African Internally Displaced Persons Voice Foundation, Mr. Oluwatobi Ogunbayo during the high level civil society policy forum of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund 2017 where issues of Resettlement and Integration of IDPs is at the top of the agenda.

Across the world, has been numerous laws that could be used to address the problem of displacement but none of these directly focused on the protection of and provision of assistance to IDPs and affected communities. In many countries, government’s response to displacement was ad hoc and reactive. Their leaving conditions are extremely precarious such as poor access to basic social services like water and sanitation, shelter, health and education.

In Nigeria, there is a rising case of HIV/AIDs in IDP camps with about 3,000 new cases Global aid agencies and multilateral institutions are on the verge of being stretched to their limit due to this growing concern. On the economic level, this population represents a total GDP of estimated $200 billion given the average per capital income across these of most countries in these regions to $5,000.

This should be a source of real concerns to nations and global agencies like the World bank and United Nations. This is also a huge manpower that can influence national and global economy as against the current trend where they have been added below poverty line. This has made this population poorer and poorer. To achieve the SDG targets of reducing poverty by 2030s, we must begin to address the issue of IDP resettlement and integration back to their communities.

After the Kampala Convention on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), much has not been done to protect the rights to new settlement for Internally Displaced Persons in mostly from across the World. IDPs are people who have fled their homes because of natural disaster or conflict based on religion, race, membership of a social group or political opinion but remain within their home country’s borders. Ethnicity and religion has often been cited as a major root causes of conflict and internal displacement in Africa, Asia and Middle East these factors are often manipulated to serve political interests, masking the genesis of displacement in poor governance, corruption, and inequitable access to land and or resources.

The lack of a strong legal policy framework, national government’s inability to confront security issues even in the save zones for IDPs as well as lack of strong involvement of international community to marshal greater financial and institutional support for displaced persons has over the years leave them unsettled, un-integrated, unproductive and vulnerable.

African Internally Displaced Persons Voice Foundation is a non-governmental organization registered in Nigeria that has been working on the rights of internally displaced persons and one of the few organization chosen by the World bank/ I.M.F to host a policy session at the 2017 Spring meeting of the World Bank Group. Many expert believe that to end poverty, these population needs to be urgently resettled and integrated back into their communities.

Major General Nuhu Angbazo, chief of civil military affairs who represented the Chief of Army Staff of the Federal Republic of Nigeria enumerated several successes achieved under the President Buhari led government and how the Nigerian Military has successfully defeated the insurgence that led to millions of people displaced in the North East to a post resettlement phase now of Military-civil engagement which has been cordial and help increase successes in the north east. He noted that no directive has been issued to return IDPs back to their communities but the Military has provided a grand security architecture for those returning to their homes and to further to deter such displacement in near future.

Other speakers includes Mr. Manfred Carew, Former Senior Advisor with Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Council, US and Dr. Gimena Sanchez-Garzoli, Senior fellow at the ANDES office of WOLA in Washington D.C., Ms. Philomena Desmond, Executive Director, Horizon Africa. Other recommendations includes the coordination of all national laws on IDP under the Global protection working group (GPWG) with a mandate to enhance the capacity of all actors to address the protection needs of IDPs, Implementation of the Kampala Accord on IDPs and domestication at national levels in all African Countries, World Bank Sponsored quick impact assessment projects targeted at IDPs and enforcement of restorative justice for abused people in IDP camps through holding national individuals or military personnel accountable.

Other recommendation includes Provision of save zones for those repatriating to their old homes or new ones with infusion of basic amenities and infrastructure to support their living. In the eventuality that they are not returning to their old homes, legal processes and rights to fully own the lands where they presently are with support of infrastructures. In remote scattered settlement, there is need to create new cities with urban infrastructure.