A/HRC/40/26 Development. However, without disaggregated data that made it possible to measure achievements, there was a real risk of failing to deliver. Responding to the challenges of internal displacement, protracted displacement in particular, could not be a humanitarian challenge alone, as there were also complex human rights, humanitarian, development and possible peacebuilding dimensions to internal displacement. Only comprehensive human rights analyses of root causes, and comprehensive responses, could assist internally displaced persons in achieving durable solutions. Such an approach must also ensure that internally displaced persons were engaged in and benefited from the Sustainable Development Goals, as outlined in the United Nations conceptual framework “Ensuring that no one is left behind”. An approach informed by human rights also helped ensure that effect was given to the commitments made at the World Humanitarian Summit to localize aid and increase the participation of affected populations. 17. Finally, she insisted on the need for strong leadership and collective action. She explained that, harnessing the energy shown by many partners to mark the twentieth anniversary of the Guiding Principles, she had worked with many stakeholders, including Member States, United Nations agencies and NGOs, to identify priority areas for action on internal displacement, resulting in the Plan of Action for Advancing Prevention, Protection and Solutions for Internally Displaced People 2018–2020. The Plan identified four interrelated priorities for more strategic, coordinated and collaborative action on internal displacement. 18. In highlighting the specificities of internal displacement in Africa, the Special Rapporteur on refugees, asylum seekers, migrants and internally displaced persons of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights noted that armed conflict, internal crises, disasters, the adverse impact of climate change, flagrant human rights violations, development projects and urbanization represented risks that could lead to forced displacement. Of the 55 Member States of the African Union, 35 were affected by the phenomenon of internal displacement, which, despite the multiple commitments to prevent it made by African States, remained a serious and persistent problem in Africa. In 2017, there had been 13 million internally displaced persons in Africa. In 2016, 70 per cent of new internal displacements had been the result of conflict and violence. 19. African States were willing to offer protection and assistance to millions of displaced people. In that context, a number of African States had already incorporated the Guiding Principles into their national legislation, policies or strategies. Several States, for example, had come together in 2006 to adopt the Pact on Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region, which included a protocol specifically on the protection of and assistance to internally displaced persons. The Protocol had incorporated the provisions of the Guiding Principles. Although the African continent continued to be affected by massive displacement, the Protocol had been the first legally binding instrument to oblige States to adopt and implement the Guiding Principles. It also served as a regional framework for providing protection and assistance to internally displaced persons in the Great Lakes Region, enacting national legislation to domesticate the Guiding Principles and ensuring the implementation of the Guiding Principles in national legal systems. States such as Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic and Kenya had been precursors in adopting such protection measures. 20. The adoption of the Kampala Convention, which was the first and only legally binding instrument on internal displacement on a continental scale, had demonstrated the leadership and willingness of African States and their determination to move forward in protecting and assisting internally displaced persons. The Convention had been adopted in 2009, at a special summit of the African Union in Kampala, and had entered into force in 2012. It drew on the Guiding Principles and on international and regional standards and laid out a catalogue of commitments for a range of actors. It was a historic instrument that obliged States to tackle the causes of displacement, protect the rights of the internally displaced and measure to what extent durable solutions had been achieved. The first Conference of States Parties to the Convention had been held in April 2017 in Harare, and States had reported on their ratification status and the efforts they had made to implement the Convention. To date, 27 States had ratified the Convention, while 17 had signed it but not ratified it. Eleven States had neither signed nor ratified it. Many States had already 5

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