Ordeal Of Refugees In Kampala City
Mar 30, 2003
ELIZABETH is a 30-year-old woman, who fled from Lumule in Sudan. With her 14-year-old son, she came to Kampala when her husband died during war between SPLA rebels and the Sudan government.<br>
ELIZABETH is a 30-year-old woman, who fled from Lumule in Sudan. With her 14-year-old son, she came to Kampala when her husband died during war between SPLA rebels and the Sudan government.
The boy was her only surviving child. Her other children died of hunger. Elizabeth came to Kampala in February 2002 with other refugees who now stay in Old Kampala, a city suburb.
“I often get stomach ache, and now am also hungry. I have to look for food, preferably porridge, from whenever I can find it. I sleep outside at InterAid (an NGO) and when it rains I get wet. I have nowhere to go. Sometimes we get food from the police,†she says.
Sara, a Sudanese refuge living in Kabowa, a Kampala suburb, says: “I can’t steal or work to get food. I am looking for a way to go back to Sudan.â€
These are some of the many voices echoed through the Washington-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) report on urban refugees dated November 22.
The report says thousands of refugees in Kampala and Kenya are living in dangerous conditions. “while the two governments are taking insufficient steps to address the refugees’ plight.â€
In a 208 page report, the HRW also criticises intergovernmental agencies for neglecting their responsibilities to protect and assist refugees in Kampala and Nairobi.
In testimonies contained in the report, refugees said they were subjected to beatings, sexual harassment, extortion, arbitrary arrests and detention.
They also encountered food scarcity and lacked medical care.
“The perpetrators are criminals and persecutors trailing them from their countries of origin, and even the Kenyan police and Uganda military,†the report said. It also mentions how UNHCR’s refugee status determination process is delayed.
“Kenya and Uganda have done a terrible job not protecting these vulnerable people,†says Alison Parker, the Director of Refugee Policy at HRW and author of the report.
The Kenyan police was accused of extortion and violence while arresting refugees. In Kampala, the HRW says the Congolese Rally for Democracy follow and threaten refugees who are also human rights activists.
“Ugandan authorities have detained refugees, and security agents from refugees’ countries of origin have targeted some (especially refugees from Rwanda and the DRC)...,†the report says.
Maj Shaban Bantariza, the UPDF spokesman, describes the report as “redundant and shallow.†He says even the UNHCR is not aware of the so-called refugee harassment in Kampala.
“These people don’t seem to know who is a refugee and who is not. Some of these people are illegal immigrants. We have refugees well settled in many places in the country like in Mbarara, Northern Uganda, even here in Kisenyi,†Bantariza says.
The report says some lucky refugees find shelter with friends, family, or with church leaders who give them shelter on church property.
“Several refugees explained that prior to the time of the Human Rights Watch visit, they had been allowed to sleep inside a broken-down school bus that had been parked near the Old Kampala Police Station. Several spoke longingly about the shelter and warmth the bus had provided. However, the bus was allegedly towed away after journalists planned to write a story about it.â€
The HRW say their report is based on 150 in-depth interviews with refugees from Ethiopia, the DRC, Rwanda, Somalia and Sudan.
The report says the estimated 50,000 urban refugees and asylum seekers in Kampala are being punished for their presence in the country with no regard for their rights to freedom of movement.
The UNHCR in Kampala has denied that rights of refugees in Kampala are abused and wondered at the inaccuracy of the report which says there are 50,000 refugees in Kampala when Uganda has 195,000 refugees.
“The government provided land upcountry and refugees are settled there. Not every foreigner is a refugee. We only settle special persons of concern in Kampala,†Bushara Malik, the public information officer of UNHCR Kampala, told journalists recently.
The UNHCR refugee statistics as of October 31, 2002 indicate that Kampala has only 180 refugees.
The HRW says a few NGOs provide assistance only when asylum seekers are waiting for their status to be assessed.
“Once recognised as refugees, most sign an agreement verifying that they will be ‘self-sufficient’ in Kampala. Keeping this promise is very difficult for refugees, given that they are living in a city where the citizens themselves are suffering from unemployment and poverty.â€
The report says that at Old Kampala Police Station where new refugees stay, they are allowed to share food rations reserved for prisoners detained at the police station
The food is donated by charitable agencies in Kampala.
“While police harassment of refugees is nowhere near such harassment in Kenya, refugees in Kampala sometimes suffer from more sophisticated individual targeting by the Ugandan military and police.
Given the geopolitical role of Uganda in countries like Sudan, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, refugees and asylum seekers are often deeply fearful of the refugee status determination process, which in contrast to Kenya, is mostly run by the Ugandan government,†says the report.
The HRW urges the Ugandan government to uphold its obligations to refugees by passing the new refugee bill, slated for consideration in 2003.
“The governments of Kenya and Uganda have policies requiring refugees to live in camps, which makes it difficult to address needs of refugees in the city. The main agency charged with protecting refugees, unhcr has no funds or the commitment to defend refugee rights and work against the camp policy,†the report says.
The HRW report urges donor governments to help refugees in the two countries.
Lack of funds almost forced Unhcr to close the only safe housing centre for refugees in Nairobi earlier this month, and the agency has put on hold a proposed programme to issue better identity documents to refugees.
“Donor governments should be ashamed. If they don’t increase their contributions to refugee agencies in Kenya and Uganda, the plight of these refugees will not improve,†says Parker. Ends
The boy was her only surviving child. Her other children died of hunger. Elizabeth came to Kampala in February 2002 with other refugees who now stay in Old Kampala, a city suburb.
“I often get stomach ache, and now am also hungry. I have to look for food, preferably porridge, from whenever I can find it. I sleep outside at InterAid (an NGO) and when it rains I get wet. I have nowhere to go. Sometimes we get food from the police,†she says.
Sara, a Sudanese refuge living in Kabowa, a Kampala suburb, says: “I can’t steal or work to get food. I am looking for a way to go back to Sudan.â€
These are some of the many voices echoed through the Washington-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) report on urban refugees dated November 22.
The report says thousands of refugees in Kampala and Kenya are living in dangerous conditions. “while the two governments are taking insufficient steps to address the refugees’ plight.â€
In a 208 page report, the HRW also criticises intergovernmental agencies for neglecting their responsibilities to protect and assist refugees in Kampala and Nairobi.
In testimonies contained in the report, refugees said they were subjected to beatings, sexual harassment, extortion, arbitrary arrests and detention.
They also encountered food scarcity and lacked medical care.
“The perpetrators are criminals and persecutors trailing them from their countries of origin, and even the Kenyan police and Uganda military,†the report said. It also mentions how UNHCR’s refugee status determination process is delayed.
“Kenya and Uganda have done a terrible job not protecting these vulnerable people,†says Alison Parker, the Director of Refugee Policy at HRW and author of the report.
The Kenyan police was accused of extortion and violence while arresting refugees. In Kampala, the HRW says the Congolese Rally for Democracy follow and threaten refugees who are also human rights activists.
“Ugandan authorities have detained refugees, and security agents from refugees’ countries of origin have targeted some (especially refugees from Rwanda and the DRC)...,†the report says.
Maj Shaban Bantariza, the UPDF spokesman, describes the report as “redundant and shallow.†He says even the UNHCR is not aware of the so-called refugee harassment in Kampala.
“These people don’t seem to know who is a refugee and who is not. Some of these people are illegal immigrants. We have refugees well settled in many places in the country like in Mbarara, Northern Uganda, even here in Kisenyi,†Bantariza says.
The report says some lucky refugees find shelter with friends, family, or with church leaders who give them shelter on church property.
“Several refugees explained that prior to the time of the Human Rights Watch visit, they had been allowed to sleep inside a broken-down school bus that had been parked near the Old Kampala Police Station. Several spoke longingly about the shelter and warmth the bus had provided. However, the bus was allegedly towed away after journalists planned to write a story about it.â€
The HRW say their report is based on 150 in-depth interviews with refugees from Ethiopia, the DRC, Rwanda, Somalia and Sudan.
The report says the estimated 50,000 urban refugees and asylum seekers in Kampala are being punished for their presence in the country with no regard for their rights to freedom of movement.
The UNHCR in Kampala has denied that rights of refugees in Kampala are abused and wondered at the inaccuracy of the report which says there are 50,000 refugees in Kampala when Uganda has 195,000 refugees.
“The government provided land upcountry and refugees are settled there. Not every foreigner is a refugee. We only settle special persons of concern in Kampala,†Bushara Malik, the public information officer of UNHCR Kampala, told journalists recently.
The UNHCR refugee statistics as of October 31, 2002 indicate that Kampala has only 180 refugees.
The HRW says a few NGOs provide assistance only when asylum seekers are waiting for their status to be assessed.
“Once recognised as refugees, most sign an agreement verifying that they will be ‘self-sufficient’ in Kampala. Keeping this promise is very difficult for refugees, given that they are living in a city where the citizens themselves are suffering from unemployment and poverty.â€
The report says that at Old Kampala Police Station where new refugees stay, they are allowed to share food rations reserved for prisoners detained at the police station
The food is donated by charitable agencies in Kampala.
“While police harassment of refugees is nowhere near such harassment in Kenya, refugees in Kampala sometimes suffer from more sophisticated individual targeting by the Ugandan military and police.
Given the geopolitical role of Uganda in countries like Sudan, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, refugees and asylum seekers are often deeply fearful of the refugee status determination process, which in contrast to Kenya, is mostly run by the Ugandan government,†says the report.
The HRW urges the Ugandan government to uphold its obligations to refugees by passing the new refugee bill, slated for consideration in 2003.
“The governments of Kenya and Uganda have policies requiring refugees to live in camps, which makes it difficult to address needs of refugees in the city. The main agency charged with protecting refugees, unhcr has no funds or the commitment to defend refugee rights and work against the camp policy,†the report says.
The HRW report urges donor governments to help refugees in the two countries.
Lack of funds almost forced Unhcr to close the only safe housing centre for refugees in Nairobi earlier this month, and the agency has put on hold a proposed programme to issue better identity documents to refugees.
“Donor governments should be ashamed. If they don’t increase their contributions to refugee agencies in Kenya and Uganda, the plight of these refugees will not improve,†says Parker. Ends