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The United Nations (UN) has hailed Uganda’s open-door policy to refugees fleeing insecurity from their home countries and urged the European Union (EU) member states to adopt it.  

“I want to commend the Government and people of Uganda for their very humanistic approach to refugees,” Dennis Francis, the president of the UN General Assembly, told the media on Saturday, January 20, at the Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort Hotel in Kampala.   

This was shortly before the closing ceremony of the 19th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement.   

“There are certain places around the world where refugees are being turned back and sent on to other countries. Uganda accepts, helps, and supports refugees,” the UN chief noted. 

EU countries urged 

The UN secretary general, , also lauded Uganda for providing “a remarkable example of refugee protection” to more than a million refugees from several neighbouring countries.
 

Un Secretary General Antonio Guterres

“This is something that should be used as an example and the European Union countries should be looking into those examples. Ukraine refugees of course have a right to be protected, but all refugees are equal and all refugees have the same rights,” he said on Sunday, January 21. 

Guterres made the remarks while addressing the media after the opening ceremony of the 3rd South Summit of the Group of 77 and China at Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort Hotel in Kampala, Uganda. 

Uganda implements the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework and Global Compact on Refugees, emphasising the inclusion of refugees into national systems, particularly in the education, health, and livelihood sectors. 

They live in villages known as settlements, where they co-exist with communities that host them, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 

“This approach, combined with progressive refugee laws and freedoms, provide refugees in Uganda with significant prospects for dignity and self-reliance,” it adds on its website. 

The refugees and asylum-seekers mainly from South Sudan, DR Congo, and Burundi, live in villages known as settlements, where they co-exist with communities that host them, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 

“This approach, combined with progressive refugee laws and freedoms, provide refugees in Uganda with significant prospects for dignity and self-reliance,” the UN Refugee Agency adds on its website. 

In December 2023, Uganda’s agriculture state minister for animal industry, Bright Rwamirama, said the country was hosting 1,604,813 refugees and the immediate needs were food and shelter.  

“However, there is declining food supplies from the World Food Programme and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,” he noted in Geneva, Switzerland, where he was attending the Global Refugee Forum. 

In partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization, Rwamirama said that Uganda supports both refugees and host communities in climate-smart agriculture and called for support from donors for sustainability.