Will Uganda’s ‘Open-Door’ Refugee Policy Hold? Aid Cuts and Rising Anti-Immigration Sentiments

Uganda has long been praised for its progressive refugee policy. Whereas many countries close borders or confine refugees to camps, Uganda operates what is often described as an ‘open-door policy’ that grants refugees unrestricted entry, freedom of movement, access to public services, and the right to work. Refugees who are unable to sustain themselves in urban areas are allocated a small plot of land in one of Uganda’s rural ‘settlements’, where they can construct shelter and cultivate. This approach has been celebrated by aid agencies and donors as a unique model for promoting the economic integration and ‘self-reliance’ of refugees, reducing their dependency on aid, and managing forced displacement as a development, rather than a humanitarian, issue. Hosting one of the largest refugee populations in the world, Uganda contrasts itself deliberately with border-fortressing regimes elsewhere and with countries that handle refugees exclusively as a population in need of humanitarian support.[1]

Beneath this narrative, however, the Ugandan ‘model’ has entered a period of profound strain. The refugee response is facing on the one hand an unprecedented number of refugees and on the other hand, an unprecedented funding crisis. Pressure on livelihood resources and lack of funding for relief aid and social services has led to mounting precariousness in and around refugee settlements. Meanwhile, intolerance towards refugees, at least of certain nationalities, is increasingly visible in urban areas, particularly Kampala. These developments raise the question of whether the ‘open-door policy’ can be sustained, and if so, in what form and with what implications. In a rapidly changing political and economic landscape, the answer to this question appears to be ever less certain.

[1] Schiltz, J., & Titeca, K. Is Uganda Really a ‘Refugee Paradise? Al Jazeera, 29 July 2017. https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2017/7/29/is-uganda-really-a-refugee-paradise

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(Photo credit: Yotam Gidron)