Joint statement on behalf of the Government
of Uganda and UNHCR
The Government of Uganda and UN High
Commissioner for Refugees Filippo
Grandi today jointly appealed to the
international community for urgent and
massive support for the thousands of
South Sudan refugees who continue to
arrive in Uganda every day, fleeing
brutal conflict, compounded by the
limited availability of food.
Uganda currently hosts more than
800,000 South Sudanese refugees. Among
them are some 572,000 new arrivals who
have poured into Uganda in desperate
need of safety and help since 8 July
2016. With present rates of arrival, that
figure will surpass a million before mid-
2017. This year alone, more than 172,000
South Sudanese refugees have fled to
Uganda, with new arrivals in March
averaging more than 2,800 daily.
“Uganda has continued to maintain open
borders,” said Rt. Hon. Ruhakana
Rugunda, Prime Minister of Uganda.
“But this unprecedented mass influx is
placing enormous strain on our public
services and local infrastructure. We
continue to welcome our neighbours in
their time of need but we urgently need
the international community to assist as
the situation is becoming increasingly
critical.”
“We are at breaking point. Uganda
cannot handle Africa’s largest refugee
crisis alone,” said UN High
Commissioner for Refugees Filippo
Grandi. “The lack of international
attention to the suffering of the South
Sudanese people is failing some of the
most vulnerable people in the world
when they most desperately need our
help.”
Chronic and severe underfunding has
reached a point where critical life-
saving help risks becoming dangerously
compromised. Transit and reception
facilities are rapidly becoming
overwhelmed. Significant challenges are
being faced in providing refugees with
adequate food rations, health and
educational services, and sufficient clean
water; a dire situation further
compounded by the onset of heavy rains.
Currently, UNHCR urgently needs more
than a quarter of a billion US dollars to
support South Sudanese refugees in
Uganda in 2017.
Uganda’s approach to dealing with
refugees has long been among the most
progressive anywhere on the African
continent. Upon receiving refugee status,
refugees are provided with small areas
of land in settlements integrated within
the local host community; a pioneering
approach that enhances social cohesion
and allows both refugees and host
communities to live together peacefully.
In Uganda’s Mid and South-West, land
for these settlements is provided by
Government. In northern Uganda, where
the vast majority of South Sudanese
refugees are being hosted, the land has
been donated by the local host
community, an outstanding display of
generosity towards people fleeing war
and conflict.
As a result Uganda was chosen as a role
model for pioneering a comprehensive
approach to refugee protection that
complements humanitarian responses
with targeted development action,
benefiting both refugees and the
communities hosting them. This was
adopted as part of the New York
Declaration on Refugees and Migrants at
the UN General Assembly last year, and
is now also being rolled out in other
displacement crises - offering hope to
millions of refugees worldwide.
However, in the face of severe
underfunding and the fastest-growing
refugee emergency in the world,
Uganda’s ability to realise a model that
allows refugees to thrive now risks being
jeopardized – and the future of the new
comprehensive refugee response
framework thrown into question.
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