ADDIS ABABA, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- As the African Refugee Convention on Refugees turns 50, the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, has called on African states, which are not yet party to the Convention, to ratify it, and others to fully implement it.
The Convention has been ratified by 47 of the 55 member states of the African Union (AU).
In a statement on Thursday, the UNHCR reiterated its warm welcome to the milestone for the Convention adopted on Sept. 10, 1969 as the world's first regional refugee protection treaty and the regional complement to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention.
This week, 50 years ago, member states of the then Organization for African Unity (OAU), now AU, gathered in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa and adopted the OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, dubbed the 1969 OAU Refugee Convention.
"It was a progressive treaty that expanded on the definition of refugee among other advances, and it remains relevant half-a-century later," said Cosmas Chanda, UNHCR's representative to AU.
The UNHCR Representative has welcomed the recent Rwanda's commitment to helping refugees and asylum-seekers from Libya as a fitting tribute to the 1969 OAU Refugee Convention's anniversary.
In 1969, many African states had recently gained their independence, while others were still under colonial or minority rule. The Convention reflects this context.
In addition to the international refugee definition from the 1951 Convention, the 1969 OAU Refugee Convention affords refugee protection to individuals who fled because of "external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or events seriously disturbing public order."
This broader regional definition and the Convention's provisions on voluntary repatriation and solidarity ensure its influence and value till this day, the UNHCR has noted in the statement.
The 1969 OAU Refugee Convention also addresses responsibility sharing, an issue that has now gained global prominence with the affirmation of the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) in the UN General Assembly in December 2018.
The Convention provides that where a state "finds difficulty in continuing to grant asylum to refugees", it may appeal to other parties to the treaty and they "shall in the spirit of African solidarity and international co-operation take appropriate measures to lighten the burden."
It is in this spirit that also on Tuesday, Rwanda formally agreed to evacuate refugees and asylum-seekers living in dire and life-threatening circumstances in Libya.
Rwanda, the UNHCR), and the African Union (AU) on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to set up a transit mechanism for evacuating refugees and asylum seekers out of Libya, whereby Rwanda is to receive the first batch of 500 refugees and asylum seekers from Libya in the coming few weeks.
UNHCR welcomes Rwanda's commitment to help refugees and asylum-seekers from Libya as a fitting tribute to the 1969 OAU Refugee Convention's anniversary.
The deal embodies the spirit of the regional instrument and, now, of the GCR.
Several African states have, since 1969, adopted progressive refugee laws and policies in line with the 1969 OAU Refugee Convention, while others are revising their refugee laws and policies to reflect both the Convention and the GCR, as well as the changing nature of displacement in Africa.
The AU declared 2019 as the "Year of Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons: Towards Durable Solutions to Forced Displacement in Africa", in part to commemorate the 1969 OAU Convention's 50th anniversary.
