III.2.1.4 In whole or in part - Existence of an internal flight alternative?

Main Debate

  • Does the Internal Flight Alternative/Internal Protection Alternative apply to the OAU Convention refugee definition?

Main Point

  • The OAU Convention’s definition clearly states that the events need only occur ‘in part’ of the country; hence the IFA is not applicable.

Treaties

  1. OAU, Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, 10 September 1969, 1001 U.N.T.S. 45.

Readings

Core

  1. UNHCR, ‘Guidelines on International Protection No. 4: "Internal Flight or Relocation Alternative" Within the Context of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees’, 23 July 2003, HCR/GIP/03/04, para 5.
  2. University of Michigan Law School, The Michigan Guidelines on the Internal Protection Alternative, 11 April 1999, para 7.

Extended

  1. T. Schreier, ‘The OAU Refugee Convention Definition’ in F. Khan and T. Schreier (eds), Refugee Law in South Africa, (Cape Town: Juta, 2014), pp 85-86.
  2. T. Schreier, ‘An Evaluation of South Africa’s Application of the OAU Refugee Definition’ Refuge, vol. 24, no. 2, p. 53.