Forced Migration in the OIC Member Countries:
Policy Framework Adopted by Host Countries
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Uganda’s 2006 Refugee Act sets out the legal framework for refugee protection, establishing
processes for determining refugee status and related rights, in line with international legal
standards. The Act also acknowledges that refugees are entitled to the rights and subject to
the obligations set out in several international conventions to which Uganda is signatory,
including the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (1981), the Convention on
the Rights of the Child (1989), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (1979), and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights
(1981).19
In turn, the 2004 National Policy for Internally Displaced Persons sets out the rights of
internally displaced persons (IDPs), the identification and registration process, and the
responsibilities of different national and local agencies to provide assistance. Uganda was
among the first countries to introduce a national policy on IDPs, which drew from the
Guiding Principles to cover conflict-, environmental-, and development-induced
displacement.20 Uganda was the first state to ratify the Kampala Convention (of 2009) and
has also ratified the 2006 IDP Protocol, the former of which it played a key role in drafting
and promoting.21
Institutional structure
In practice, many of the refugees currently residing in Uganda entered as part of a mass influx
(e.g. from South Sudan or eastern DRC), and thus were recognized on a prima facie basis.22
Asylum seekers from other countries must have their protection claims individually assessed.
The 2006 Refugees Act assigns responsibility for assessing protection claims to the Refugee
Eligibility Committee (REC), which is comprised of officials from ten government
departments. Under the Act, anyone wishing to apply for refugee status must submit a written
application to the REC (or via UNHCR or an authorized officer) within 30 days of arriving in
Uganda; the REC is then required to return a decision on the application within 90 days.23 If
the REC rejects an application, they must state their reasons in writing, and the applicant can
then appeal the decision within 30 days to the Refugee Appeals Board. The Appeals Board
adjudicates the grounds of the appeal within 90 days, though it cannot itself grant refugee
status to the applicant and must instead revert back to the REC. UNHCR plays no formal role in
this adjudication process, though it can attend meetings of the REC and Appeals Board (and
make submissions to the latter), and forward refugee applications on to the Commissioner for
Refugees. Civil society has criticized aspects of this process, including the short time frame for
19 See Articles 28, 31, and 32 of the 2006 Refugee Act.
20 Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) and Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), “Uganda: Need to focus on
returnees and remaining IDPs in transition to development,” May 24, 2012,
21 Ibid.
22 UNHCR, “Global Appeal 2015 Update: Uganda,” accessed May 18, 2016,
UNHCR, Global Report 2011: Uganda,
23 The 2006 Act does not deal with refugees sur place; however, Uganda has recognized refugees sur place by interpreting
Article 1.2 of the OAU Convention as applying to those inside or outside their country of origin at the time of events
disturbing public order. (Article 1.2 reads: The term “refugee” shall also apply to every person who, owing to external
aggression, occupation, foreign domination or events seriously disturbing public order in either part or the whole of his
country of origin or nationality, is compelled to leave his place of habitual residence in order to seek refuge in another place
outside his country of origin or nationality.) OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa ;
and Marina Sharpe, “The 1969 OAU Refugee Convention and the Protection of People fleeing Armed Conflict and Other
Situations of Violence in the Context of Individual Refugee Status Determination,” UNHCR Legal and Protection Policy
Research Series, January 2013, 18