Africa
At the Council, we are dedicated to advancing the rights of refugees and migrants across Africa.
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Regional context
Africa continues to experience large scale displacements due to factors such as political repression, armed conflicts, poor governance and climate change including floods and droughts. The lack of implementation of the international refugee and human rights law, regional laws and domestic laws exacerbate the plight of many refugees and migrants. The Council continues to advocate for the implementation of the existing laws and through strategic litigation aims to change the laws, policies and practices that subjugate the rights of refugees and migrants in the region.
The Network
The Africa network was founded following the Council’s regional consultation held in Nairobi in 2023 with co-hosts Kituo Cha Sheria. Through convening members at a regional level, the aim of the network is to be able to identify the key issues facing refugees and migrants in the Africa region with the practitioners working there. We work alongside these experts to tackle these issues collectively, centring those affected. We support a growing community of over X members based in the region with their community and strategy development, litigation and advocacy, and training needs.
As a member of the network, you can connect and collaborate with other members in the region via a dedicated listserv and whatsapp group. Through these platforms you can share real-time updates and questions, identify opportunities for support and collaboration, and distribute important news and events.
Regional Work
Our work across this region is split into three core workstrands:
Community-Building & Strategy Formation
Over the course of the next few years, Maureen will work with members in the region to co-create a regional strategy for advancing refugee and migrant rights. Some of the core priorities we are currently working on in the region include:
- Strategic litigation on legal pathways to access citizenship including for refugee children and spouses of citizens of the host countries and on pre-asylum detention and deportation of migrants.
- Supporting organisations with resources and training to enhance their capacities in advocacy and strategic litigation.
- Networking building and information sharing through our regional network forum.
Technical Assistance
The Council provides free technical assistance to members working on litigation in national, regional, and global forums to protect refugees and migrants’ rights. This includes case strategy development, drafting legal arguments, research, evidence-gathering and more. Our collaborations, which bring together community organizations, refugee leaders, and lawyers, have delivered justice for thousands of refugees and migrants in courts across the world.
See our latest successes and impact in the Latest Regional Highlights section below.
Capacity Building
We provide tailored training and resources to enable members in the region to increase their impact, think ahead and pivot quickly to tackle new challenges. Types of assistance we provide include: responding to members’ requests to run training on specific issues (such as challenging externalization policies) or legal strategies (such as how to best use regional court mechanisms) or skills (such as how to engage with the media).
Look back at the latest training we have run for our Africa members in the Latest Regional Highlights section below.
Regional litigator
Maureen Okoth
An experienced lawyer in human rights and constitutional law, Maureen coordinates and supports the Council’s Africa regional network. In collaboration with members of the network, she identifies high impact strategic litigation and advocacy to advance the rights of forcibly displaced people across the region.
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Founding Members