Sovereignty, non-interference and the refugee problem in Africa: a study of the beleaguered principles focusing on Rwanda and Burundi.

In the past three decades we have witnessed an increasing flow of refugees and internally displaced persons in the Third World, particularly in Africa, associated with internecine infra-state conflict. This study is an attempt to examine the reasons behind the tenacious refugee problem, focusing on Rwanda and Burundi. The underlying assumption of this study is that the international law principles of sovereignty and non-interference function as independent variables in perpetrating and exacerbating the refugee problem, since they reinforce the status quo, in which human rights violations, infra-state conflict and refugee-generation are deemed as purely an internal affair of the affected sovereign state. However, the said principles are facing serious challenges from state and non-state actors demanding new sociopolitical arrangements between the state and the individual or civil society in order to create conditions for a refugee-free world. The findings of this study, indicate that the said principles have had a significant function in the generation of refugees. An important conclusion drawn from this study is that liberal international law possesses reform potential, making states culpable for violations of human rights. Criminalization of human-rights violations, including refugee generation, within the domestic and international judicial processes, needs to complement other traditional politico-legal strategies.