Forced Migration in the OIC Member Countries:
Policy Framework Adopted by Host Countries
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3.4. UGANDA1
Uganda has consistently hosted large refugee populations from neighboring countries such as
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Sudan, and most recently, South Sudan. Since
the early 1960s, the number of refugees residing in Uganda has rarely dipped below 100,000,
with the outbreak or cessation of conflict as a primary driver of refugee flows to and from
Uganda.2 Most recently, the outbreak of civil war in December 2013 has displaced more than
700,000 South Sudanese refugees; at the end of May 2016, 221,000 had sought shelter in
Uganda.3 Uganda now hosts more than half a million registered refugees (of a total population
of 39 million): the largest number in its history and, as of the end of 2015, the eighth-largest
refugee population worldwide.4
Uganda has won praise for its progressive refugee policies, which allocate a plot of land to
refugees for shelter and agricultural use, and afford refugees the right to work, establish their
own businesses, access free primary and secondary education, and a broad degree of freedom
of movement.5 Its Refugee Act of 2006, which set out these rights to work, move, and live
outside of camps was heralded by UNHCR as “a model for Africa.”6 But implementing these
policies and providing refugees with access to sustainable livelihoods remains a challenge, due
in part to factors like the limited capacity of Uganda’s education, health, and social assistance
systems, and the scale of recent refugee arrivals in northern Uganda.
3.4.1. Scale and Profile of Forced Migration
At the end of May 2016, there were half a million registered refugees in Uganda.7 Eighty
percent were either Congolese or South Sudanese nationals; other major refugee populations
included Somalis, Rwandans, and Burundians (see Table 11). An additional 35,000 asylum
seekers resided in Uganda, constituting about 6 percent of the total forced migrant
population.8
1 Written by Kate Hooper, with contributions from the International Refugee Rights Initiative
2 UNHCR, “Population Statistics: Time Series,” accessed May 16, 2016
3 UNHCR, “South Sudan Situation: Regional Overview,” last updated July 1, 2016,
4 Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), “Uganda – Monthly Refugee Statistics Update [31st May 2016],” Refugee Information
Management System (RIMS) UNHCR, “Population Statistics:
Time Series”; and World Bank, “Population, total,” accessed July 6, 2016 UNHCR, Global
Trends: Forced Displacement in 2015 (Geneva: UNHCR, 2016), 16.
5 Charlie Yaxley, “Uganda hosts record 500,000 refugees and asylum-seekers,” UNHCR news update, December 18, 2015,
6 Vanessa Akello, “Uganda’s progressive Refugee Act becomes operational,” UNHCR news update, June 22, 2009,
7 Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), “Uganda – Monthly Refugee Statistics Update [31st March 2016],” Refugee Information
Management System (RIMS) UNHCR, “Uganda,” accessed May 23, 2016,
8 OPM’s monthly data on refugee populations often combines refugee and asylum seeker populations in breakdowns of data
(e.g. population by settlement, age, gender).