Lake Chad Basin High Level Conference 2023

Start date:: 23 January 2023 9 a.m. (Africa/Niamey)
End date:: 24 January 2023 5 p.m. (Africa/Niamey)

Location

Mahatma Gandhi International Convention Centre (MGICC) in Niamey, Niger

Background

The Lake Chad region is one of the world’s most protracted conflict and crisis environments. Despite some positive developments, high levels of violence continue to have a devastating impact on millions of people in Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria. After nearly 13 years of conflict, armed groups continue to spread violence and 11 million people are in need of wide-ranging assistance. Some 5.6 million people are expected to be severely food insecure during the 2022 lean season – the highest figure in four years. Furthermore, 2.9 million people are internally displaced (IDPs), including 2 million in Nigeria alone.

With a view to addressing the multidimensional crisis in the Lake Chad Basin, riparian governments and the international community convened at the High-Level Conferences in Oslo (2017) and Berlin (2018) to coordinate and streamline their engagement in the region. Germany, Norway and the United Nations (OCHA/UNDP) are the standing conference co-hosts. This high-level conference cycle is complemented at the subnational level by meetings of the Governors’ Forum for Regional Cooperation on Stabilisation, Peacebuilding and Sustainable Development.

The high-level Lake Chad conference cycle is a critical international political forum able to facilitate a regional, cross-border consensus around the required adjustments for effectively dealing with the prevailing multi-faceted challenges in the region. Therefore, it is time to call a 3rd Lake Chad Conference.

Objectives

Instructive guiding principles for a 3rd Lake Chad Conference might be:

anchoring African ownership in a regionally coordinated, joint-up response within the framework of the LCBC/AU RSS and its implementation in line with principled, UN coordinated humanitarian assistance;
reinforcing the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus within a One UN framework, at this stage with a special emphasis on greater complementarity between humanitarian, stabilisation and development actors, including
- fostering dialogue between humanitarian, stabilisation and development actors to better identify common opportunities to promote the nexus and identify areas prone to implementing sustainable solutions, leveraging comparative advantages and in line with each pillar’s areas of expertise.
- sharing good practices and models (such as the regional stabilisation facility), challenges and opportunities on promoting stabilisation in the Lake Chad Basin context;
- strengthening the coordination between humanitarian and stabilisation actors for greater advancement of durable solutions, in particular with a view to achieving durable, voluntary, safe and dignified returns of IDPs in accordance with international law (specifically the Kampala Convention and UN Secretary General’s Action Agenda on internal displacement with its focus on ensuring that IDPs find a durable solution to their displacement, on prevention of new displacement and on ensuring that those facing displacement receive effective protection and assistance);
- charting a sequential path to sustainable development in areas sufficiently stabilised;
improving access for humanitarian assistance to all populations in need and promoting respect for international humanitarian law
reinvigorating and streamlining reintegration and reconciliation efforts across the region;
developing pathways to addressing the issue of community self-defence groups;
addressing adverse impacts of climate change as part of peacebuilding and humanitarian efforts.