8 things you need to know about refugees in Uganda
Uganda’s refugee hosting model is one of the most progressive in the world. However, Uganda’s generous policy towards refugees is under threat, as thousands of new refugees arrive each day while its refugee appeal is chronically underfunded.
1. Uganda hosts one of the largest refugee populations in the world. Currently Uganda is hosting over 1 million refugees, of which over 900,000 are from South Sudan. ©Amnesty International
2. Refugees are fleeing horrific human rights violations including sexual violence, torture and even death in South Sudan. © ALBERT GONZALEZ FARRAN/AFP/Getty Images
3. In Uganda, the majority of refugees from South Sudan – over 64% - are children under the age of 18. Together with women they make up 86% of the South Sudanese refugee population in Uganda. ©Amnesty International
4. Uganda has one of the most generous and progressive approaches to hosting refugees in the region, if not the world. Refugees are given relative freedom of movement, equal access to primary education, healthcare and other basic social services, and the right to work and own a business. ©Amnesty International
5. In Uganda, refugees are hosted in designated areas called ‘settlements’ where they are allocated pieces of land to put up shelters, grow food and start their own businesses. The idea is that in five years they can be self-reliant and will no longer need to depend on humanitarian aid. ©Amnesty International
6. Uganda’s welcoming approach risks failing because rich countries are not doing their fair share to support Uganda and the over 1 million refugees living there. ©Amnesty International
7. Rich countries have turned their backs on people fleeing South Sudan as they have offered extremely few resettlement places to vulnerable refugees. Resettlement gives vulnerable refugees a chance to restart their lives in dignity, but in 2016 only 11 South Sudanese refugees were resettled from Uganda. ©Amnesty International
8. It is time for rich countries to match Uganda’s generosity. There are two immediate things that they can do to help: they should increase funding to Uganda and they should significantly increase resettlement places and other safe and legal routes that are offered to refugees from South Sudan. ©Amnesty International
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