Uganda had become the third largest refugee-hosting country in Africa, after Ethiopia and Kenya, with more than half a million refugees by 2015. That number is growing drastically. Alongside ongoing crises in Burundi and DRC, violence in South Sudan has driven more refugees to Uganda during three weeks in July than in the first six months of 2016.
The overwhelming refugee population is partly explained by Uganda’s less stringent refugee policy. Uganda has a liberal and generous refugee policy. With the enactment and coming into force of the 2006 Refugee Act, refugees in Uganda are, under section 28, entitled to internationally recognized refugee rights including the right to work under Section 29(1) (VI), and freedom of movement in Uganda under Section 30. Refugees in Uganda are entitled to the same rights as nationals with respect to practicing their religion and are entitled to elementary education for which they must, under Section 29, receive the same treatment as nationals. A member of the family of a recognized refugee is equally entitled to these rights under Section 36. A refugee may also, under Section 44(2) reside in a place in Uganda other than a refugee settlement.
With such a policy, Uganda represents an attractive destination for refugees (Refugee Studies Centre, Working Paper No. 95, pg. 6).
This impacts in various ways not only on the areas they settle in but also on the locals/ nationals as explained further:
- Struggle for resources that’s to say there’s struggle to share the already scarce resources between the refugees and the locals which in the end leads to conflict.
- Over population on the small economy that already is so the limited resources are encroached on hence causing depletion of some great resources in a bid to search for land for settlement such as forest cover that has been deforested in areas of Kasese
- Some refugees are enriched with certain vices that they spread amongst the locals for example some come war zones characterized by fighting and when they get mixed up with the civilized masses, their characters emerge hence spreading the same traits to the local masses they share environments with such as schools where refugees’ children go to.
Submited by:
Kenneth Wabuteya
Skills For Excellence
