Mogens Lykketoft: UNGA President Says Migrants Are Entitled To Protection

Mogens Lykketoft (centre), President of 70th UN General Assembly; Left - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; and Right -Tegegnework Gettu, Under-Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management (UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe)

Senegal: No longer a sanctuary for African dissidents

The West African State has adopted a policy of expelling African refugees critical of their home governments

Macky Sall (L) was invited by Yahya Jammeh (R) to attend The Gambia’s 48^th Independence Anniversary (Photo taken from Scoops de Ziguinchor)

73 Million People Need Humanitarian Aid in 2013: UN

Halfway through the year donors have generously provided US$5.1 billion for humanitarian organizations to deliver critical aid to people in 24 countries, according to Valerie Amos (Photo Credit: UNAIDS)

UNHCR calls on Gambia to ratify and adopt the Kampala Convention

Refugees at a transit camp at Choucha Ras Djir, 8kms from Tunisian border with Libya (UN)

The Head of Mission of United Nation High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in The Gambia has called on the Gambia Government to ratify and adopt the African Union (AU) Kampala Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Africa.

Mr. Sekou Saho, who was speaking during a press conference at the UNHCR’s Head Office in Kotu, added that Gambia has over the years experienced a massive displacement and the Kampala Convention will help to consolidate the work that had already been done on IDPs.

Red Cross steps up work to restore family links

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Liberia National Red Cross Society have boosted their activities to register and assist unaccompanied and separated children arriving in Liberia after fleeing Côte d’Ivoire.

“The second wave of refugees that has resulted from the upsurge in fighting in western Côte d’Ivoire since 24 February has been more urgent and less well organized than previous arrivals. More families have become separated in the process,” the ICRC said on March 24, 2011.

Government stress the need to find a durable solution to address the plight of IDPs

The Minister of Interior, NGOs Affairs and for Refugees in The Gambia, Hon. Ousman Sonko has admitted that the issue of Internal Displaced Persons (IDPs) has taken centre stage, and the need to find a durable solution is “government’s primary” responsibility.

Speaking at a one-day sensitisation workshop for Lawmakers and Relevant Stakeholders on the African Union (AU) Convention for the Protection and Assistance of IDPs, held in Banjul, Sonko said the adoption of this regional instrument (Kampala Convention) has been widely welcome as a positive development for the protection of IDPs in Africa.