World Refugge Day
Jun 20, 2016
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
By Jacquiline Emodek
Last year, a headline in The Guardian, an international newspaper, announced, "South Sudanese refugees in Uganda receive generous welcome". They had fled their country'S civil war in December 2013 after the fallout between President Salva Kiir and his deputy, Riek Machar. As the world marks World Refugee Day today, it is important to note that Uganda is host to over 535,252 refugees.
At least 224,420 of these refugees come from South Sudan and the rest from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan. According statistics from the Office of the Prime Minister, Adjumani district was host to about 134,897 South Sudanese refugees as of May 2016.
Unlike in other countries, refugees in Uganda do not live in camps, but side-by-side with the host communities in settlements. The high number of refugees is attributed to Uganda's refugeefriendly policies and services.
co-ordinator of Transcultural Psychosocial Organisation Uganda in the Kiryandongo settlement, says the conducive refugee policy is exceptional, compared to other countries. "The policy provides that we open our boarders to all refuges. They are registered and enjoy their freedom and rights. They are placed in settlements and not camps, where they would be confined to a specific space," he says.
Settlements
The settlements include; Kiryandongo, which hosts 152,487 refugees from Kenya and South Sudan; Nakivale, which has 64,000 refugees from Congo, while Oruchinga in Isingiro district has 6,665 refugees from Congo and Burundi.
Others are Kyangwali in Hoima district, which is home to over 20,000 refugees from Congo, Rwanda and Burundi and Nyumanzi settlement in northern Uganda. The refugees are given land, where they farm and are able to be selfreliant.
In the Kiryandongo settlement, refugees are free to move and buy items from Bweyale town. In addition, refugees can also seek employment in Uganda, which is unheard of in other countries.
"In many countries, refugees are strictly placed in camps, which they are not supposed to leave, not even to look for work," Ochaka notes. Dr. Sausan Mohammed from Sudan can testify to this. She is an urban refugee who works part time in two clinics in Kampala to cater for her four children.
The settlements also have services which are provided by partners like Transcultural Psychosocial Organisation, Save the Children and InterAid and they are protected by the legal framework of Uganda.
"To get services from partners, refugees in other countries have to go through a lot of challenges," Ochaka says. Scholistica Nasinyama, the executive director of InterAid Uganda, says the policy is favourable because what is given to the refugees by the partners is also shared by the nationals.
"The Government has a policy where both communities are served without discrimination, which contributes to the development of the country as a whole," Nasinyama says. She notes that Ugandans are naturally hospitable and appreciate the refugees.
It is no wonder that on June 17, refugees handed the commissioner for refugees a placard as a gesture of their appreciation. Services like health and education are also freely available to refugees. There are five government primary schools in Kiryandongo settlement which provide free education and three health centres.
"In other countries, you can only receive these services from UNHCR. Therefore, where the agency cannot provide, you have to pay heavily to get the services from a government institution," Ochaka explains. Sixteen-year-old Youri Kandungi from the Democratic Republic of Congo, who lives in Kibuye, a Kampala city surbub, is a student at Kampala Apostolic Secondary School.
"I like school, although we study for 12 hours. My school fees are paid by InterAid," he says. Meanwhile, knowing that refugees suffer from trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder. They are also offered psycho-social support and mental health services, which is a core objective in their rehabilitation. Recently in Kenya, refugees from Somalia were sent away and yet in the psychosocial aspect, this adds more torture and causes more trauma.
Besides the settlements, Apollo Kizungu, the commissioner for refugees in the Office of the Prime Minister, says refugee management and protection has been included within the National Development Plan II.
This is through the Refugee Settlement Transformative Agenda, thereby creating a fertile environment to include long-term development planning in the humanitarian response for refugees and their host communities.
"We also ensure that while refugees are here, they develop skills because a time will come when they have to return to their countries and need to be able to develop their own economies," he says.
Inclusive system Last year, the Government signed a multi-year Refugee and Host Population Empowerment Strategic framework with UN agencies, the World Bank and other development partners to support resiliencebuilding efforts for refugees and host communities.
According to the Office of the Prime Minister and UNHCR, January 2016 saw a significant rise in the number of new arrivals from South Sudan as the political, social and economic situation in the country worsened due to the after effects of the protracted war.
More than twice the number of refugees expected in a month arrived in Uganda in January. Following the influx, the Office of the Prime Minister and partners in Adjumani conducted an assessment of a new settlement that will support at least 15,000 refugees, while the Government secures more land.
Recently, the Minister for Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Hilary Onek, explained that Uganda had applied for a $50m (about sh167b) loan from the World Bank to rehabilitate and build new public facilities, such as schools and health centres in refugee-hosting communities.
Uganda's pioneering approach in handling refugees has earned it a position as one of the world's most progressive countries in refugee management and protection. As we mark the world refugee day under the theme, "Let's continue to stand with refugees", Uganda is a perfect example.
Challenges
Nasinyama notes that urban refugees face similar social economic challenges like fellow Ugandans, since they live in slum areas like Kisenyi, Makerere Kivulu, Nsambya- Kirombe and Katwe.
Some of the challenges of living in slums are; poor hygiene as most of them lack proper toilets and latrines, there are security threats and the overcrowding fosters easy spread of diseases. She says the situation is worse for refugees because they are in a foreign land and have to adapt to new cultures and systems.
"Many of them are from DR Congo, and the language they speak is either Lingala or French. Now they have to learn to speak our languages like English and Luganda to be able to co-exist with us," she says.