The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi has praised the “open border” policy of Ugandan government which is currently receiving up to 500 refugees a day.
Grandi who is currently on official visit to Uganda, hailed Uganda’s treatment of those fleeing wars and persecution as a model for the rest of the world.
Though not a very wealthy country, Uganda today provides sanctuary to a total of some 1.4 million refugees, many of whom come from South Sudan.
“I want to thank the Ugandan government, local government and its people… that despite recent influxes Uganda has the most progressive refugee policy in Africa, if not the world,” Grandi said while touring refugee settlements in Uganda on Tuesday.
“Almost 500 people a day come to Uganda…. All are allowed to come and receive protection, to mix freely, to work, to access basic services,”he said.
Most of the refugees have fled the conflict in South Sudan to the North of Uganda, but a steady and growing number are also fleeing increasing insecurity in the Democratic Republic of Congo on its western border.
Uganda also hosts around 50,000 refugees from Burundi.
Uganda now has the largest refugee population in Africa, more than half of whom are children. A quarter of all the people now living in Arua district are refugees while in neighboring Yumbe district, half of the entire population is made up of refugees.
Grandi highlighted that refugees in Uganda often received parcels of land to grow food, where they are allowed to work and access education, health and justice services.
The UN High Commissioner warned the generosity of host communities who are also facing development challenges could not be taken for granted.
“We should not overly test the patience of people… We have to make sure local communities also benefit from the refugee presence,” he said.
He explained UNHCR and the Ugandan government had adopted a comprehensive strategy which supported grass roots’ initiatives aimed at fostering harmonious relationships between nationals and refugees.
Under this policy, facilities such as health clinics and water wells, that have been set up to support the refugees’ presence are available to local communities.
In Uganda, Grandi also met with several refugees many of whom told him they would go home if there was peace and security, but at the moment that was not the case.
“We are confused, there is no peace there. We will go home if there is peace,” Sarah Utua, 24, who walked six weeks to Uganda with elderly parents and two children to flee fighting near her home in South Sudan told Grandi.
“These people all want to go home… I would once again appeal to the leadership in South Sudan, ‘Please make peace’,” Grandi said.
The High Commissioner was moved by the story of a man his own age who told him he had been a refugee in Uganda four times in his life.
“I want to go back and make sure my bones end their days there. This is the fourth time I have been a refugee in Uganda. Uganda has been good to me but I want to go back,” Lasuba Yousto, 60, said.
Grandi also met with Ugandan Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda to whom he reiterated UNHCR is grateful for Uganda’s approach to the refugee situation and pledged to maintain and improve cooperation with the authorities in all areas.
