Managing a Refugee Influx in Uganda

By Lane Krainyk, 3L, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

When 492 Tamil asylum seekers arrived on the British Columbian coast aboard the MV Sun Sea in 2010, the Canadian government decried the cost of processing them, publicly cast doubt on the legitimacy of their claims, and set to work writing new laws that would make it more difficult for refugees to seek safe asylum in this country. Canada, it was argued, could simply not manage this type of refugee influx.

Through my internship with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Uganda, I had the opportunity to learn what a real refugee influx looks like. As a result of recent conflict in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda’s refugee population increased dramatically in the first half of 2012. Tens of thousands of refugees poured over the border, bringing the total number of refugees in Uganda to around 200,000. In cooperation with UNHCR and other organizations, the government of Uganda processed these refugees and provided them safe transit to settlements where they were given land to farm.

Uganda’s refugee population is extremely diverse. For many years, Uganda has welcomed refugees fleeing persecution and conflict in Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Burundi, Rwanda and the DRC. Refugees in Uganda are able to choose between living in settlements or relocating to cities. Many move to Kampala - Uganda’s largest city, as well as the centre of UNHCR’s operations in Uganda and the site of my IHRP internship.

I worked with the Protection Unit of UNHCR’s Kampala office. The Protection Unit deals with the protection concerns of refugees and asylum seekers residing in the city. I was responsible for meeting with refugees to assess the protection issues they faced and to make recommendations on what UNHCR could do to assist them. The types of assistance provided included helping refugees follow up with local police on security concerns, developing strategies for decreasing their vulnerability on a day-to-day basis and, in some cases, recommending them for resettlement to a third country. In addition, I had the opportunity to visit one of Uganda’s refugee settlements, giving me perspective on the scope of the refugee situation in Uganda. I also drafted daily and weekly updates on the refugee influx from the DRC.

Through my internship with UNHCR, I learned just how fortunate Canada is to be able to generally control the number of refugees that come through the border. Since Canada does not border any countries that typically produce large numbers of refugees, Canada is rarely the first country of asylum. Instead, a huge percentage of Canada’s refugees are received through a resettlement process that takes refugees from their original countries of asylum (like Uganda) and resettles them elsewhere (like Canada). Through this process, the Canadian government can determine, to a large extent, how many refugees are let in, where those refugees come from, and who, specifically, they are.

Uganda, on the other hand, has very little control over the population seeking refuge within its borders. In fact, for much of 2012, the equivalent of one Sun Sea full of refugees was arriving in the country every day. Uganda could not determine how many people would arrive or from where they came. Uganda has an obligation, borne of necessity and international law, to protect refugees who seek asylum. The opportunity to see how UNHCR and the Ugandan government manage Uganda’s refugee population, particularly when its resources are stretched, provided an extremely interesting comparison on how different countries approach and manage refugee issues. My internship with UNHCR was a fantastic opportunity for me to learn more about refugee migration, processing, resettlement, and protection issues, as well as the opportunity to learn about the countries from which Ugandan refugees flee, and international migration law. I am extremely grateful for the support of the IHRP, Fasken Martineau, and the staff at UNHCR.