- The definition of forced displacement, and its causes

- The difference between the concepts of forced and voluntary displacement

-The impact of forced displacement on development in Africa

-The uninitiated factors

-The International and regional efforts in countering the phenomenon

Dr. Hala Al-Rashidi, Director of the Center for Research, Political Studies and Dialogue of Cultures, initiated the seminar by thanking Professor Hanan Ali, Acting Dean, Ambassador Namira Najm, director of the African Observatory for Migration and former legal adviser to the African Union, and professor Amani Tawil, African affairs expert at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. She then began to talk about the topic of the seminar, which is forced displacement and the challenges it poses to the phenomenon of development in the African continent, which is witnessing an increase in the number of forcibly displaced for various reasons, including armed conflicts, the spread of terrorist organizations, or scarcity of resources. Further, she indicated the importance of distinguishing between the concept of forced displacement and illegal migration, as well as the legal status of Internally Displaced Persons, which is different from the irregular migrant. Additionally, she also stated that we will discuss international policies in this area in addition to the role of the African Observatory.

Then the floor passed to Dr. Hanan, who defined forced displacement as a case of harsh conditions that force individuals to leave their homes because of armed conflicts, natural disasters, or any other reason. This results in exposing the displaced to further difficulties in finding safe shelter, and basic needs of water, food, and health care. That’s why this issue is considered one of the most pressing issues in the world. In that regard, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees announced that the number of displaced and refugees due to wars, persecution, and violence is likely to reach 114 million in 2023. The most important causes of displacement in the first half of the year 2023 were as a result of the war in Ukraine, Sudan, Democratic Congo, and Somalia. As for the African continent, this phenomenon poses a threat to the development process in two ways: the first is the diversion of a huge amount of resources spent on forced displacement instead of allocating them to achieve sustainable development goals, and the second is the wasted human potential, where highly skilled people are depleted in the search for Maoist and safe housing instead of using their skills, so traditional solutions must be found to face this problem.

Then Ambassador Namira Najm commented on the idea of internal and international displacement, stressing that forced displacement includes the existence of coercive reasons that forced people to be displaced. She also pointed out the importance of distinguishing between forced and voluntary displacement. That's why the term irregular migration is the right one to be used, not illegal migration because the use of such a wrong term means killing the conventions of international humanitarian law, which guarantees the right of movement and migration to everyone. She stated that wars are the most important reason behind displacements, and then she touched on Gaza as it lies on the border of an African country where 1.9 million citizens are being internally displaced. She also pointed to the Sahel African countries that are experiencing either internal movement or the movement between countries such as the Democratic Congo, Sudan, Central Africa, and Burkina Faso, as well as the southern countries that are experiencing instability not only due to conflicts but also climate changes that lead to migration from rural or even coastal areas to cities and then living in unsafe or unqualified areas. She also talked about the phenomenon of terrorism in Mali, Nigeria, and Mozambique, which is a threat to the security of the continent, and pointed out that the role of the African Observatory lies in monitoring and analyzing these phenomena to contribute to solving them to make policies that can be proposed to the decision-maker in the African Union.

As for Mrs. Amani Tawil's speech, it revolved around three points: first, the factors that are not addressed in the issue of forced displacement, second, the regional and international action towards this phenomenon, and finally, the recommendations. As for the factors that are not addressed, they are represented by the fact that some terrorist organizations enjoy popular incubators such as Burkina Faso and Boko Haram in Nigeria, which weakens the effectiveness and ability of states and international powers to confront, also the idea of the national state, whose borders were designed in a way that makes them unstable states by not taking into account the Berlin Conference of local reality and the nature of tribal or social geography, which resulted in 111 unlike borders on the continent, as well as the idea of the nature of cultures, which often depends on the fact that land belongs to individuals and not to the state. Therefore, an attack on those lands represents an attack on the tribe, which ends up causing instability such as a problem in Darfur, Sudan in 2003 which resulted in an armed conflict. Further, she pointed out that the culture of armed conflicts in Africa is characterized by violence, which includes killing, looting, and raping women. She also talked about the last factor in the untapped factors, which are resources such as gold-rich lands, for example, which become a resource being contested. As for the regional and international actors and their shared responsibility towards the issue, she pointed to the importance of monitoring as a first step that would help us solve the problem. In that context, she spoke about a bright spot, the so-called Rome track, which was put forward by Italy. It stated that it is impossible to eliminate irregular migration unless Africa becomes a viable place. She also spoke about the role of local development policies and to what extent they tend towards investing in people. She finally concluded by referring to Egypt's leading role in developing integration policies with African countries.