The Ugandan Refugee Model Under Pressure: Protection and Justice in Refugee Settlements

Abstract

The escalation of violence in South Sudan sparked a refugee crisis in the north of Uganda, catapulting Uganda to the forefront of this crisis in Africa. In fact, more refugees entered Uganda than those who crossed the Mediterranean to Europe the same year. There were already a staggering 1.3 million registered refugees in Uganda in August, 2017, 994,642 of which were South Sudanese (UNHCR, 2017). These numbers exacerbate the already strained resources available to protracted refugees in the south and southwest of Uganda as a consequence of the refugee crisis in the north. A Solidarity Summit took place in Kampala June 2017, which sought to raise USD 2 billion, but only managed to secure USD 365 million. With the increased number of refugees mixed with a lack of adequate funding, pressure on Uganda as a refugee-hosting state is at risk of reaching a breaking point.