Uganda has announced a major policy shift in its refugee management framework, halting the granting of refugee status to nationals from countries not currently experiencing active conflict. The decision comes amid dwindling donor funding and a growing strain on the country’s resources, even as refugee arrivals continue to rise.
Hilary Onek, the Minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness, and Refugees, confirmed the new directive, citing Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia among the countries whose citizens will no longer be granted refugee status upon arrival.
“I have instructed our officers not to give refugee status to citizens coming from those countries because there is no war there,” Mr Onek said, noting that the policy will apply strictly to new arrivals. “We shall not reverse refugee status for those who have already acquired it.”
He made the remarks during the handover of 2,544 metric tonnes of rice donated by the Government of Korea to the World Food Programme (WFP) at its Gulu warehouse. The consignment, valued at $2.9 million, will support 600,000 refugees in 13 settlements and feed 200,000 school children in the food-insecure Karamoja Sub-region for a year.
Uganda—one of the world’s largest refugee-hosting nations—is currently home to almost two million refugees. Despite relative peace returning to some neighbouring countries, arrivals remain high, with between 100 and 200 people entering daily from the Democratic Republic of Congo and continued inflows from South Sudan.
“We thought South Sudan was peaceful, but refugees are still flowing in,” Mr Onek said. “We wish the government there tolerates their political opposition so that they can agree to work together and let their people go back home.”
The minister warned that Uganda’s progressive refugee policy—allowing refugees to work, trade, move freely and access public services—has become increasingly difficult to sustain without adequate international support.
Uganda’s refugee operations have faced a sharp decline in external financing. Mr Onek revealed that while Uganda previously received about $240 million annually from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the figure has dropped to under $100 million despite the swelling refugee population.
“This year, they received only $18 million. So, the situation is dire, and it is our people who shoulder those costs, which the UNHCR used to handle,” he said, estimating that Uganda spends roughly Ush2 billion annually on refugee needs.
Mr Onek said Uganda is in ongoing discussions with governments of conflict-affected states with hopes that stability can be restored, enabling refugees to voluntarily return home.
“Those with many factions look at Uganda as though we are interfering. But we have not given up,” he said. “They have to come to terms, have some tolerance, and enable their citizens to go back.”
Uganda’s latest decision underscores the mounting pressure facing frontline refugee-hosting countries across Africa as global humanitarian funding declines and displacement crises persist.
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