Contents

Introduction
Background
Response to the Crisis
» Recommendations

The Migration of Refugees from Tanzania to Uganda:
Whose Responsibility?

February 2003


Policy Recommedations

In light of the current crisis, the Refugee Law Project makes the following recommendations:

  1. That UNHCR should follow the initiatives that its own head office has outlined in the strategic document, “Durable Solutions Strategy for Rwandan Refugees”, Office of the Regional Co-ordinator for the Great Lakes region, December 9th 2002. It should specifically adhere to Recommendation 6, 1. which states, “The offices [in the region] should ensure that claims made by Rwandan asylum seekers or refugees that they were compelled to leave their previous country of asylum due to fear of persecution, or because their physical safety or freedom had been endangered, are duly taken into account, and that their cases are assessed on their merits in the second country of asylum.”
  2. That UNHCR, the GoU, and World Food Programme should immediately arrange material assistance for the refugees in question, in order to avert a humanitarian disaster.
  3. That the GoU, with the support of the UNHCR, should initiate a status determination process in order to identify those who are unable to return to Rwanda, in line with EXCOM Conclusion 58.
  4. That the international community support the GoU in this endeavour in order that any assistance offered to the refugees also takes into account the needs of the host communities.