This article explores the responsibility to protect (R2P) as an organizing concept for preventing, addressing and finding durable solutions to internal displacement in Africa. While the most innovative norms for protecting the forcibly displaced have been conceptualized in Africa, they have not durably addressed displacement, due to limitations in implementation. R2P has similarly faced criticisms emanating from a lack of clarity and distrust. Restated norms underlying frameworks for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and R2P complement each other, and can be operationalized simultaneously through a more credible regional approach, to encourage effective protection of IDPs in Africa. The article explores pillar one, pillar two and the non-coercive elements of pillar three of R2P, and its underlying moral principles, using Kenya as a case study of the process of seeking to secure state responsibility for the protection of displaced civilians victimized by mass atrocities.
COVID-19 has severely tested fragile health systems and economies. Since then, it has taken a heavy toll on individual lives and collective wellbeing. In late February 2021, "all 47 countries [in the World Health Organization (WHO) African region] had reported a total of 2,789,965 confirmed cases and 71,204 deaths with case fatality rate of 2.6%". 1 With limited availability of vaccines and the spread of variants, the WHO concluded in April 2021 that "the risk associated with further spread of the SARS-CoV-2 VOCs in the African Region is currently assessed as high to very high for the overall population and very high for vulnerable individuals". 2 The COVID-19 pandemic and the responses to it have generated common challenges and tensions, particularly concerning the relationship between public health measures on the one hand and the need to protect human
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