Organization of African Unity
Published: 1979
Total Pages:
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The Report of the Conference is divided into four parts. Part One gives the background and objectives of the Conference. Part Two deals with the organization of the Conference and the General Debate. Part Three overviews the findings and conclusions of the Conference. Part Four contains the texts of the recommendations adopted by the Conference. The sixteen recommendations concern the following topics: asylum in Africa; the definition of the term 'refugee' and determination of refugee status; illegal entry; expulsion and problems raised by the concept of prohibited immigrants; treatment of refugees: detention, imprisonment and acts directed against the personal safety of refugees; treatment of refugees: movement of refugees; rights and obligations of refugees and states of asylum; accession to, and implementation of, international instruments concerning refugees and international solidarity; dissemination of refugee law; causes for asylum seeking in Africa; rural refugees; urban refugees; general recommendations related to rural and urban refugees; employment, education and training of refugees in Africa; refugee counselling services; policy issues and administrative problems; special recommendation submitting the report of the Conference to the OAU Council of Ministers. The annexes to the Report include the opening address by H.E. Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere, President of the United Republic of Tanzania, the report of Committee A on legal and protection problems, and the report of Committee B on social, economic, institutional, administrative and financial problems. A report to a pre-conference meeting in January 1979 describes UNHCR assistance to refugees in Africa. Other reports included in the Conference documents deal with: movements of refugees between African countries; asylum in Africa; rights and obligations of refugees in African countries; some technical legal concepts relating to the admission and expulsion of refugees with special reference to Africa; detention and imprisonment of refugees in Africa; African refugees in Scandinavian countries. The Conference documents also include guidelines and notes adopted by the OAU/UNHCR Working Group on Arusha, Follow-Up, Second Meeting, Geneva, 4-5 December 1980. The Conference documents contain the resolution on the situation of refugees in Africa and on prospective solutions to their problems in the 1980s adopted by the Council of Ministers of OAU meeting in Monrovia, Liberia, from 6-15 July 1979.