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lodging an application, the written requirement (which could disadvantage illiterate refugees),
and the Appeals Board’s lack of authority.24
The Office of the Prime Minister (OPM)’s Department of Disaster Preparedness and Refugees,
and its Commissioner of Refugees, are then responsible for issuing identity cards to refugees,
administering refugee settlements, and coordinating humanitarian assistance and refugee
programming, in consultation with UNHCR and other organizations. While OPM is responsible
for the operation of the settlements (including security), UNHCR works with several partner
organizations to deliver refugees with rations, basic services like healthcare and education,
and livelihoods programming. Under Uganda’s national IDP policy, OPM’s Department of
Disaster Preparedness and Refugees is also the lead agency for protecting and assisting IDPs.25
Refugee rights and benefits
The 2006 Refugees Act sets out rights for refugees that include being issued an identity card
and travel document for travel outside Uganda; freedom from discrimination; freedom of
association (for non-political organizations); and receiving the same treatment as other non-
citizens with regard to property rights, transferring assets, practicing a profession, accessing
employment and trade, and secondary or tertiary education.26 Refugee women are subject to
protection from gender discrimination; and refugees are able to access healthcare services
and education (including free elementary education) on the same terms as Ugandan nationals.
At the same time, Ugandan law imposes some constraints on refugee rights, including:
 Freedom of movement. The 2006 Act grants refugees freedom of movement “subject to
reasonable restrictions” in Ugandan law or issued by the Commissioner on grounds like
national security or public order or health.27 This technically requires refugees to obtain
permission from their settlement commandant before they move, though this is not
strictly enforced, and refugees often move without permission in practice.28 This process
of asking for travel permission is slowly being phased out.29
 Political activities. Refugees are also barred from participating in political activities in
Uganda, or political activities against another country (including their country of origin). 30
This draws on Article 3 of the OAU Convention, which bars refugees from participating in
any “subversive activity” against a member of the OAU, but is considerably more
expansive in scope, and critics of the Act have warned this could impinge on refugees’
rights to freedom of association and expression.31
 Citizenship. Under Ugandan law, refugees have limited access to Ugandan citizenship.
Article 14 of the Uganda Citizenship and Immigration Control Act of 1999 bars people
whose parents or grandparents were refugees from acquiring citizenship at birth (jus
24 RLP, Critique of the Refugees Act (2006) .
25 Until 2012, UNHCR supported the government in providing protection and supporting returns, but with falling numbers
of IDPs closed its office in northern Uganda. Spindler, “UNHCR closes chapter on Uganda’s internally displaced people.”
26 Articles 28-36, The Refugees Act 2006.
27 Article 30, The Refugees Act 2006.
28 IRRI, South Sudanese refugees in Adjumani District, Uganda: Telling a new story? July 2015, 4,
29 IRRI interview with the Commissioner for Refugees, Kampala, April 2015.
30 Article 35, The Refugees Act 2006. Andersson describes two official interpretations of “political activities” in this context:
(1) barring refugees from voting or standing in elections, and (2) a broader ban on writing political articles alongside this
bar on participating in elections—which, he notes, would contravene rights to freedom of expression set out in Uganda’s
Constitution, the ICCPR, and the African Charter. Erik Andersson, Political Rights for Refugees in Uganda: A Balance Between
Stability in the State and Respect for Human Rights (master’s thesis, Umea University, 2013),
31 RLP, Critique of the Refugees Act (2006) , 18.