Forced Migration in the OIC Member Countries:
Policy Framework Adopted by Host Countries
140
Police Station, where new arrivals are registered.56 Rent in urban areas like Kampala can be
prohibitively high, with reports of landlords charging refugees rent at several times the
market rate, and many refugees living in crowded, low-quality accommodation to save on
costs.57 Without a steady source of income, evictions are common; refugees interviewed in a
2011 report described strategies like selling assets, begging, cutting back on meals, taking
children out of school, or engaging in survival sex to cover monthly expenses like rent.58
Refugees are permitted to lease land outside of settlements, but their precarious financial
situation and the complex and corrupt land tenure system means this is uncommon. 59
However, some groups of refugees have purchased land for communal use, for example to
build community resources such as a church or school.60
Livelihoods and labor markets
Uganda’s refugee legislation grants refugees the right to work and to practice a regulated
profession upon having their qualifications recognized, and they are exempt from fees charged
for foreign nationals; they are also required to pay taxes if employed.61 Upon registration as a
refugee, OPM issues them with a letter that sets out their status and rights, including
permission to work.62 However, ambiguous phrasing surrounding refugees’ access to
employment in the 2006 Act63 has led to divergent interpretations among local government
and immigration officials as to whether refugees must hold work permits, deterring
employers from hiring refugees.64 Refugees are also permitted to establish businesses without
a permit. However, these rights do not extend to asylum seekers, who are barred from
working, establishing businesses, or owning property. But in practice, these restrictions can
be circumvented by working in Uganda’s vast informal sector; a 2001 estimate suggested that
fewer than one in five jobs in Kampala were in the formal sector.65
Barriers to livelihoods in refugee settlements
The allocation of land to refugees in settlements means that for many refugees, farming is a
mainstay of their livelihood strategies. A survey in Rwamwanja settlement estimated that
farming (whether on their own plot or on another plot for money) comprised 87 percent of
refugees’ primary livelihood activities.66 When refugees first arrive in settlements and are
allocated land, they are given seed and tools to enable them to grow crops and supplement
their food rations, but the expectation is for refugees to move from subsistence farming to
56 Human Rights Watch, Hidden in Plain View: Refugees Living Without Protection in Nairobi and Kampala (New York: Human
Rights Watch, 2002).
57 WRC, The Living Ain’t Easy, 12-13.
58 Ibid, 14-15.
59 Ibid, 13.
60 Ibid.
61 Ibid, 19.
62 United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI), World Refugee Survey 2008 , June 19, 2008,
63 Article 29 (e) reads that “[refugees shall] receive at least the same treatment accorded to aliens generally in similar
circumstances relating to – (vi) the right to have access to employment opportunities and engage in gainful employment”;
the ambiguity arises from the general work permit requirement for immigrants.
64 WRC, The Living Ain’t Easy: Urban Refugees in Kampala. 9; Naohiko Omata, Refugee livelihoods and the private sector:
Ugandan case study, RSC Working Paper Series, No. 86, November 2012, 9,
65 Unpublished estimates by C. Chekwoti in a 2001 paper, cited in Michela Macchiavello, “Forced migrants as an under-
utilized asset: refugee skills, livelihoods, and achievements in Kampala, Uganda,” New Issues in Refugee Research, Working
Paper No. 95, October 2003, 10-1
66 UNHCR, OPM, and WFP, Uganda Joint Assessment Mission 2014, 21.