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Climate Change, Development Projects and Internal Displacement In Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2018

Romola Adeola  and
Frans Viljoen
Romola Adeola*
Affiliation:
University of Pretoria
Frans Viljoen*
Affiliation:
University of Pretoria
*
aderomola.ade@gmail.com
frans.viljoen@up.ac.za
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Abstract

Given the need for legislation to protect internally displaced persons, African Heads of State and Government adopted the Convention on the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa in Kampala in October 2009. The convention, which entered into force on 6 December 2012, is an important binding instrument on internal displacement. Article 10 of the convention requires states to prevent displacement caused by development projects, including climate-based development projects. This article examines the content of this obligation within the context of climate-based development projects.

Keywords

Climate-based development-induced displacementclimate changeinternal displacementKampala ConventionAfrica
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of African Law , Volume 62 , Issue 3 , October 2018 , pp. 335 - 350
Copyright
Copyright © SOAS, University of London 2018 

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Footnotes

*

LLM, LLD (Pretoria). Postdoctoral fellow, Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria.

**

LLM (Cantab); MA, LLD (Pretoria). Director and professor of international human rights law, Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria.

References

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36 Grainger and Geary “The New Forests Company”, above at note 33 at 4.

37 See Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969, 1155 UNTS 331, art 31(1).

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40 Case Concerning Elettronica Sicula SpA (ELSI) (United States of America v Italy) ICJ (20 November 1950) (1950) ICJ general list no 76, para 128.

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48 Id, art 6; African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, adopted by the Organisation of African Unity, OAU doc CAB/LEG/67/3 rev 5 (27 June 1981) (African Charter), art 15.

49 ICESCR, art 12; African Charter, art 16.

50 Declaration on the Right to Development, adopted by UN General Assembly res 41/128, UN doc A/RES/41/128 (4 December 1986) (Development Declaration), art 1; African Charter, art 22.

51 ICESCR, art 13; Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) 1577 UNTS 3, art 28; African Charter, art 17(1).

52 ICESCR, art 15(a); African Charter, art 17(2); Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by UN General Assembly res 217 A(III) of 10 December 1948, art 27(1).

53 ICESCR, art 9.

54 The Convention, art 4(1).

55 Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) v Nigeria ECW/CCJ/JUD/18/12 (SERAP).

56 Social and Economic Rights Action Centre (SERAC) and Another v Nigeria (2001) AHRLR 60 (ACHPR 2001) (Ogoniland), para 52.

57 This due process requirement is recognized under the Ugandan Policy on Internal Displacement as integral to the provision of sustainable solutions in situations of internal displacement. See Ugandan National Policy for Internally Displaced Persons, 2004, para 3.4(2).

58 UN General Assembly Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Mr Frank La Rue, UN doc A/68/362 (4 September 2013), para 19.

59 ATI Model Law (2013, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights) at 11.

60 Id, art 1.

61 Art 18(2) of the AU Model Law (above at note 8) lends further credence to this assertion in requiring that persons likely to be displaced “shall have full access to information on the reasons and procedure for the displacement, and where applicable, also information on compensation and relocation”.

62 This element of consultation reverberates strongly in the Kenyan Prevention, Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons and Affected Communities Act as a pertinent condition in the formulation of durable solutions: Act No 56 (2012), arts 8(3), 9 and 22.

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68 Juma “Protection of development-induced internally displaced persons”, above at note 9 at 224.

69 Development Declaration, art 2(3).

70 Above at note 42.

71 ECOWAS Directive on the Harmonization of Guiding Principles and Policies in the Mining Sector (2009), art 16(3). While operationalization of this Guiding Principle is yet to be seen, Ghana gazetted this directive in 2011. See Ghana Investment Promotion Centre “Ghana gazettes ECOWAS directives on mining sector” (2011), available at: <http://www.gipcghana.com/press-and-media/144-ghana-gazettes-ecowas-directives-on-mining-sector.html> (last accessed 8 July 2018).

72 See A Niber et al The Right to Decide: Free Prior Informed Consent in Ghana (report by Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining and Center for Public Interest Law, 3 March 2015).

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74 The essence of this element derives from the need to mitigate the impact of internal displacement, which resonates as an important theme in the prevention of arbitrary displacement. See Zambian Guidelines, para 10.

75 UN Basic Principles and Guidelines on Development-Based Evictions and Displacement, UN doc A/HRC/4/18, annex I (5 February 2007) (Kothari Principles), para 40; Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development “Guidelines for aid agencies on involuntary displacement and resettlement in development projects” (1992) at 6.

76 Adrien “The DRC case study”, above at note 24 at 65.

77 World Bank Project Completion Report Ecuador: Pastaza Biodiversity Conservation Project (GEF MSP grant no TF-051726-EC, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela Country Managing Unit, Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Sector Unit, Latin America and the Caribbean Region, World Bank, 5 September 2006).

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79 World Bank Project Completion Report, above at note 77 at 22.

80 Id at 7; Global Environment Facility Indigenous Communities and Biodiversity (2008, Global Environment Facility Publications) at 23.

81 World Bank, id at 23.

82 Kothari Principles, para 31.

83 Cernea, MM “Compensation and investment in resettlement: Theory, practice, pitfalls, and needed policy reform” in Cernea, MM and Mathur, HM (eds) Can Compensation Prevent Impoverishment? Reforming Resettlement Through Investments and Benefit-Sharing (2008, Oxford University Press) 15Google Scholar at 78.

84 The element of “last resort” is specifically emphasized in Somaliland's IDP policy. See Somaliland Internal Displacement Policy, 2016, para 4.4.1(iv). See also Res on the Right to Adequate Housing, above at note 73 at 443.