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Legal & Psychosocial Department Programmes

The Legal and Psychosocial department undertakes a number of programmes on thematic areas of concern to refugees, asylum seekers and forced migrants. Listed below are the ongoing programmes

Access to Justice

Being foreigners in Uganda, refugees and asylum seekers require adequate support in matters relating to access to justice. There are many illegal arrests and detentions of refugees and unfair exploitation from nationals who take advantage of their legal status. Many refugees are also often caught on the wrong side of the law.

The access to justice programme therefore aims at removing all obstacles or barriers to access to justice for refugees and asylum seekers in Uganda by providing free legal representation to those in need and engaging in advocacy especially to assist those residing in the refugee settlements.

The programme responds to refugees in detention by facilitating release on bond, bail applications, as well as providing legal representation to refugees in court on criminal, family and tenancy issues. The team also mediates in disputes in domestic and tenancy issues.

Anti -Torture

As mentioned above, many of the refugees and asylum seekers are survivors of torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, but there are limited options for treatment and rehabilitation in Uganda. Approximately 70% of RLP clients have suffered physical torture and nearly 100% have experienced severely traumatic events in their countries of origin. Very many continue to be traumatized in Uganda, some through direct abuse by the authorities, others through social exclusion and economic marginalisation.

Also contrary to international law, Uganda does not currently have any law specifically outlawing the use of torture. In order to address this deficit, the RLP, working with other civil society organizations and the Uganda Human Rights Commission drafted the Prevention and Prohibition of Torture Bill 2009 which aims at domesticating the Convention against Torture and making torture a crime in Uganda.

The programme team provides psycho-social support and also facilitate medical treatment for torture victims.

Child Rights and Protection

There is a severe lack of support for child refugees and asylum seekers in Uganda. Protection of unaccompanied refugee children remains a big challenge in Uganda.

Children seeking asylum particularly fall under nobody's care as both the Government of Uganda and UNHCR do not have a proper mechanism for taking care of them during the asylum process, and even those placed under foster care are not adequately monitored to ensure their well being. As such, many children end up being abused in the process of seeking assistance from strangers, while some continue to live in very dire circumstances.

The programme is currently working on three major issues affecting refugee children in Uganda- 1. The absence of a fast-track Refugee Status Determination process for unaccompanied minors 2. The absence of a social support system for unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in Uganda 3. The absence of psycho-social and post-trauma counseling and support for those who have been victims of trauma either in their country of origin or in the country of asylum 4. The level of access to education, medical services, food and shelter of the children of urban-based, self-settled refugees

The programme has concluded a survey which used fine art sessions to determine the level of exposure to trauma among settlement-based children and also to determine children who require immediate psycho-social support. It is hoped that with availability of funding, child counselors will be recruited to address these needs.
Initial work on a survey to asses the level of assess to education, medical services, food and shelter for urban-based refugee children has commenced.

Community Interpreters

The Refugee Law Project is the only organization with a specific legal mandate to refugees and asylum seekers in Uganda. Currently, the refugee population in Uganda is put at over 250,000 from Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Sudan, Rwanda etc.

The LAC Department realized that the absence of trained in-house community interpreters was affecting the quality of service delivery to the refugee communities. In 2008 and with funding from the Legal Aid Basket Fund, administered by DANIDA, the department recruited 10 refugee community interpreters and trained 25 interpreters and interviewers on community interpreting. Topics covered by the Training included Interpreting in a Legal Setting, Interpreting in a Medical Context, Interpreting in a Social Context and Culture-Specific Words, Interpretation Ethics, Consecutive Interpreting and Glossary Building.

The department currently has trained interpreters for Amharic, Arabic, French, Somali, Swahili and Tigrigna.
The Project is developing a Glossary of Refugee-Specific Words and Phrases for the major linguistic groups among refugees in Uganda.
Under the Project, there are plans to organize other trainings for Community Interpreters and organizations that use interpreters in their work with refugees.

Please checkout the glosary collection HERE

Counselling and Group Support

The counselling program is aimed at addressing the urgent need to create avenues through which the refugees, asylum seekers and IDP'S can be able to deal with the psychosocial consequences of traumatic experiences that they encountered with during flight and asylum. The need to help them understand that they can live meaningful lives and be champions of a peaceful existence is a prime goal of counselling.

Counselling creates channels of effective communication, which is both sympathetic and empathetic and it enables people to discuss their pain with freedom and share their anger at the injustice suffered in a constructive way. The counselling program also aims at developing peaceful existence among refugee communities and also with host communities. Most refugee communities have originated as a result of deeply entrenched tribal conflicts. These conflicts unfortunately have extended into their lives in asylum. The program helps expose them to issues that affect them jointly as refugees and human beings as opposed to along tribal sentiments through creation of avenues for joint activities.

The programme assists in the establishment of community support groups as a way of involving the community in designing interventions on their behalf, and sharing information on income generation and socio-economic opportunities.
The programme also trains peer-counsellor to offer support to refugees within the various communities. These groups are also effective in ensuring that our beneficiaries are part of designing our interventions under the various programmes as well as providing feedback on the effectiveness or otherwise of our interventions.

Deportation and Human Trafficking

The deportation project has continued its work from previous years, with more cases referred to RLP to take further action. Most referrals come from organizations outside of Uganda, particularly in the UK. Once we are alerted about a person being deported back to Uganda, we receive the deportees at the airport to ensure that they are not detained, and when necessary we refer them for appropriate medical assistance. We document the cases and in some instances have provided legal representation to clients who have been arrested and detained after being in Uganda for some time following their deportation.

For those facing the threat of deportation from outside countries back to Uganda and have ongoing cases in court, RLP has provided expert opinions to be used as evidence in support of their cases. At times, this involves requesting affidavits from people who can attest to the testimonies of the asylum seekers. Expert Reports

As part of the deportation project, The Refugee Law Project specializes in the provision of expert reports for Ugandans seeking refugee status in a wide range of countries. The reports are designed to support refugee cases both when they are being heard in courts of law and when they are being assessed by immigration departments. Each report is tailored to the specific needs of the case at hand and can include, inter alia, information about:

the treatment that certain groups face in Uganda;
the political and social situation in different parts of Uganda;
the treatment a person is likely to be subjected to if they are deported back to Uganda;
the veracity of an individual's claims; and
the availability of specific services within Uganda such as treatment options.

Our legal team is highly experienced at writing expert opinions. We understand the issues that need to be canvassed in reports and we have the ability to access up to date information to support individual cases. The Refugee Law Project charges between £300 - £500 per expert report. If we are unable to help you with your specific request we may be able to refer you to another organization in Uganda. Referrals from the Refugee Law Project will cost you £50. If you would like to enquire about our expert report service please contact us at: countryexpert@refugeelawproject.org

Durable Solutions

Although refugee law recognizes three durable solutions - voluntary repatriation, resettlement and local integration - the tendency is to look at voluntary repatriation as the only solution for refugees in Uganda. Continued advocacy for durable solutions is vital to ensure sustainable solutions for the refugees.

The UNHCR and the Ugandan government's policy is to keep the majority of refugees in rural refugee settlements, with no facilities for those wishing to live in urban areas although urban refugees are currently estimated at over 8000. This reduces the prospects for effective local integration.
An RLP position paper on the naturalisation of refugees in Uganda (2007) found a big disparity between the law and practice regarding naturalisation of refugees. This paper will form the basis for advocacy on naturalisation and a test case on citizenship as an alternative for refugees who do not wish to repatriate. Resettlement continues to be limited to very few refugees, with not less than 1000 being resettled out of Uganda annually.
The RLP targets immigration officials for training on the Refugees Act 2006 to ensure that they appreciate that refugees can acquire citizenship in Uganda and can work without work permits. Intensive advocacy is planned in this regard.

The programme also conducts monitoring of ongoing repatriation exercises to ensure that they are "voluntary" and are carried out in a dignified manner.

The RLP has already started on the process for a petition to Uganda's Constitutional Court seeking interpretation of articles 12 and 13 of the Ugandan Constitution on whether refugees can become citizens in Uganda.

Mental Health

This project seeks to address mental health issues refugees and staff present with. Focus will mainly be on identifying the major mental health problems refugees face and trying to find remedies for them.

For staff, it is to monitor and empower staff take care of themselves in order to keep mentally healthy. Psychosocial interventions as well as clinical ones will be used to address problems. Referrals will be made where the service is not available.

The project aims at improving psychological well-being of refugees and staff through advocacy and improved access to mental health services. The project is in the final stages of a research on the prevalence of secondary trauma stress among staff of organisations that provide direct services to refugees n Uganda.

Persons With Disabilities [PWDs] and the Elderly

While one of the core values of the Refugee Law Project is non discriminatory service delivery, persons with various forms of disabilities and the elderly among the refugee communities form an insignificant part of the project's clientele.
Over the years, the Project has served those PWDs and the elderly who have been able to access its services, although the number who could have been helped could have been higher. Somewhat the service provision has been ad-hoc rather than based on actual and proper documentation of the numbers of people with disabilities, nature of disabilities and priority needs of the affected persons. The aim of the program is therefore to ensure that problems affecting these vulnerable groups of refugees are highlighted in a systematic way and to develop proper structures for service delivery to them.

The lack of data has made it difficult to develop holistic intervention strategies to support PWDs and the elderly. This gap has also made advocacy on physical, medical or social issues very difficult.

The Programme aims at providing and advocating for speedy access to services for PWDs and the elderly.

Right to Asylum and Refugee Status Determination

The Refugee Status Determination (RSD) process in Uganda is still very long particularly for individuals from countries that are not granted prima-facie status whose cases have to go through the Refugee Eligibility Committee (REC).
The REC meetings are ad-hoc, and someone may take anywhere between 3 months and 2 years in the asylum process. Asylum seekers in Uganda are extremely vulnerable because they do not enjoy even the limited rights accorded to recognised refugees, and they do not access UNHCR assistance. Unfair rejections of asylum claims remain common, partly because the safeguarding institutions provided for under the refugees Act 2006 have not yet been out in place. The government also from time to time may decide to exclude certain nationalities from accessing the asylum process.

The Refugee Law Project believes that every asylum seeker in Uganda has a right to equal access to the asylum process. This includes speedy refugee status determination, legal representation where permitted by law and just application of cessation of refugee status. Under the programme, RLP provides legal representation on appeal for asylum seekers and research on the application of cessation clauses to Uganda's refugees.

Sexual and Gender Based Violence or Persecution [SGBV-P]

RLP estimates that 60% of its female and at least 20% of its male clients have been exposed to sexual violence either as a cause of flight or a consequence of exile. If individuals do not find a way to deal with their exposure to violence and subsequent trauma, lifelong social, emotional and cognitive impairments may develop, which can lead to further violence.
Men who have Sex with Men (MSM), Women who have Sex with Women (WSW), as well as those who have visible Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans-gendered (LGBT) identities are particularly vulnerable as, given Uganda's legislation (which punishes homosexual acts with life imprisonment) and the Anti-homosexuality Bill now before Parliament that seeks to introduce a death sentence among other punishments, this category of clients are particularly vulnerable.

Refugees and asylum seekers who are victims of SGBV lack access to services (most importantly access to justice and access to health care provision). RLP plans to expand its legal and psychosocial support activities and lobby for policy improvement by government and UNHCR and its implementing partners. The RLP will also conduct training for duty bearers including the police, UNHCR and its implementing partners on sexual and gender based violence.

Currently the SGBV-P programme provides counselling to survivors of affected refugees, medical referrals and legal aid as the case warrants.