ADDIS ABABA, April 17 (Xinhua) -- The African Union (AU) on Wednesday urged its member countries to join hands in the fight against forced displacement in the African continent.
The call was made by AU's Director of Political Affairs Khabele Matlosa, who noted that African countries represent the largest share of forced displacement as compared with the rest of the world, according to an AU statement on Wednesday.
"Globally, there are currently 68.5 million forcibly displaced persons. Of this, 40 million are internally displaced persons, 25.4 million are refugees and 3.1 million are asylum seekers," Matlosa said, adding "Africa is home to more than one-third of global displacement."
The African continent currently hosts 14.5 million internally displaced persons as well as 6.3 million refugees, according to figures from the AU.
"The social groups that tend to be the hardest hit by forced displacement include women, the youth, children and people with disability," Matlosa said.
"Particular attention needs to be paid to these groups during humanitarian response initiatives," Matlosa added.
Matlosa also stressed that the operationalization of the African Humanitarian Agency (AfHA), which is currently under scrutiny by AU member countries, "will enhance effective AU response to humanitarian crises such cyclone Idai in future."
Matlosa, who noted that the phenomenon of statelessness is "another aspect of displacement, which often gets forgotten," said that the number of stateless persons across the African continent is currently estimated at 712,000.
According to the AU, AfHA is part and parcel of the new humanitarian architecture adopted by the AU as enshrined in the Common African Position on Humanitarian Effectiveness.
The new humanitarian architecture, which includes the establishment and operationalization of the AfHA, is expected to leverage regional and national arrangements in addressing structural and proximate causes of humanitarian crises, it was noted.
The AU also noted that the African Humanitarian Agency "will play a strategic role in exploring durable solutions to forced displacement in Africa."
The AfHA was endorsed by the AU assembly, which also adopted the Common African Position in January 2016 aiming at achieving effective humanitarian action in the continent by 2025.
Amid growing displacement related concerns, the AU assembly of heads of states in February this year had declared 2019 as "The Year of Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons: Towards Durable Solutions to Forced Displacement in Africa."
