Forced Migration in the OIC Member Countries:
Policy Framework Adopted by Host Countries
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Conflict and insecurity in South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, and
elsewhere have fueled refugee flows; Uganda received 54,000 refugees and asylum seekers in
2015, and an additional 65,000 between January and the end of May 2016.9 But even as more
people seek protection in Uganda, rapid population growth means that the ratio of refugees to
Ugandan nationals has fallen since the 1960s (see Figure 16).
Figure 16: Refugees in Uganda, and as share of total population
Sources: UNHCR, “Population Statistics: Time Series,” accessed May 16, 2016, and
World Bank, “Population, total,” accessed July 6, 2016
While some refugee populations have lived in Uganda for a number of years, others are more
recent arrivals. The civil war in South Sudan has displaced more than 2.3 million people since
fighting began in December 2013, with 50,000-100,000 killed in the first year of fighting.10
UNHCR estimates there are more than 700,000 South Sudanese refugees in the region
displaced by the fighting, with Uganda sheltering more than 200,000.11 Meanwhile, other
refugee populations, such as the Rwandans, are declining in number as they return to their
countries of origin.
9 UNHCR, Global Trends 2015, 15; and OPM, “Uganda – Monthly Refugee Statistics Update [31st May 2016].”
10 UNOCHA, 2016 Humanitarian Needs Overview: South Sudan, November 2015,
11 UNHCR, “South Sudan Situation: Regional Overview,” last updated May 31, 2016,