women and children refugees by end of 2018 was in sub-Saharan Africa with 52 percent and 57 percent respectively.12 Uganda alone is host to the third largest population of refugees globally, made up of more than 1.2 million women, men and children of whom 59 percent are women while 58 percent are below 18 years.13 These staggering statistics paint a disturbing picture of a humanitarian crisis with a gendered face. In 2009, the African Union (AU) Commission declared 2010-2020 the African Women’s Decade to give primacy to Africa’s gender equality agenda and accelerate implementation of gender equality and women empowerment targets, including peacebuilding and governance.14 Following this, the AU declared the year 2010 the African Year of Peace, with a view to pursuing the objectives of peace for men, women and children on the continent. Despite this, cycles of violent conflict continues to foster untold suffering on the continent. By November 2017 Africa was hosting eight United Nations peacekeeping operations.15 With a view to shedding a spotlight on the phenomenon of forced displacement and on women suffering as refugees or internally displaced, the AU has within the past decade taken further deliberative steps. Since 2004, the position of Special Rapporteur on Refugees, Asylum-Seekers and IDPs in Africa exists within the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.16 In a novel move, the AU appointed a Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security of the Chairperson of the AU Commission in January 2014.17 In July 2017, the AU Executive Council took a decision to request the Union to declare 2019 the Year of Refugees, Returnees and IDPs with a view to seeking durable solutions to forced displacement in Africa, 18 resulting in the AU summit launching the 2019 theme as ‘the Year of Refugees, Returnees and IDPs: Towards Durable Solutions to Forced Displacement in Africa’ on 2 February 2019. In 12 UNHCR ‘Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2018’2018 Kampala Declaration on Refugees, 2017. Available at http://refugeesmigrants.un.org/declaration 14 African Union ‘The African Women’s Decade, Theme: Grassroots Approach to Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (undated) 15 AU Peace and Security Council ‘Silencing the Guns in Africa by 2020: Women’s Role in Preventing and Resolving Natural Resource-Based Conflicts’ 29-30 November 2018 16 AU Model law for the Implementation of the African Union Convention for the Protection of and Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons in Africa 17 Open Debate of The UN Security Council on “Women, Peace and Security: The Role of Women in Conflict Prevention and Resolution in Africa” New York, March 28, 2016. 18 Decision 968 (XXXI)). 13 18