The government should move swiftly to strengthen efforts to protect thousands of refugees in Rwanda and also work with the international community to address problems behind their displacement.

The call was made on Tuesday by the Lower Chamber of Parliament following a report made by the House’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Security.

It contains findings of an outreach exercise in different refugee camps and transition centres across the country which was conducted in March by members of the committee.

Among other recommendations, the legislators asked the government to ensure that those who are young among the refugees are taught how to solve their problems, provide monetary packages to the refugees in time, protect the environment around refugee camps and organise an international meeting to examine causes of refugees in Africa’s Great Lakes region and how to solve them.

"There is need for multinational consultations about the causes of refugees in the Great Lakes region and how to eradicate them,” said MP Athanasie Nyiragwaneza, vice-chairperson of the foreign affairs committee.

Rwanda is home to more than 162,000 refugees, mainly from DR Congo and Burundi– is the biggest number of refugees the country has ever hosted.

Speaking at an event in Kigali on Monday to mark the World Refugee Day, Seraphine Mukantabana, the minister for disaster management and refugee affairs, said the Government, together with its partners, has done whatever is possible to ensure that refugees in the country are taken care of and access basic needs.

The chairperson of the parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Zeno Mutimura, agrees that the Rwandan government takes very good care of refugees but also warned against supporting efforts to relocate some of them away too far from their home countries.

He called on the government to continue working with other countries and international organisations to ensure that insecurity problems that prevent refugees from going back home are addressed while also ensuring that the country is ready to receive and protect refugees at the same time.

"Taking refugees to America is not the answer,” he said, adding that "As a responsible government, we need to continue being ready to receive refugees”.

In February, the government announced plans to relocate Burundian refugees to other countries after it was accused of involvement in destabilising crisis-hit neighbouring Burundi, a charge that Rwandan leaders have vehemently denied.

While announcing the planned relocation of Burundian refugees, the Foreign Affairs minister and Government Spokesperson, Louise Mushikiwabo, said that while Rwanda readily shoulders its obligations to protect and care for refugees, experience in the Great Lakes region is that the long-term presence of refugees so close to their country of origin carries considerable risks for all involved.

"The callous indifference to the well-known root causes of instability in Burundi, and the refugee exodus is troubling. It also exposes refugees to increased threats from forces at home and compromises lasting political solutions,” she said in February, adding that "for Rwanda, the growing risks to our national security from the Burundian impasse and misunderstandings in our foreign relations are unacceptable”.

But some MPs argue that resettling the refugees to other distant countries might mean complete dislocation for them and wouldn’t be the best solution for their problems.

"The solution is not taking them to the USA, Canada or Argentina. The real solution is taking them back home where they belong,” said MP John Ruku-Rwabyoma, who lived in Toronto, Canada, for many years before returning home to Rwanda.

The Chamber of Deputies will hand over the recommendations to the government.

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