World Refugee Day: The Rwanda story

About 15 million people remain cramped in refugee camps around the world, latest statistics from United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) indicate. About 55 per cent of all refugees come from five countries including Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq, Sudan and Syria, and that developing countries now host 81 per cent of refugees globally, 11 per cent more than a decade ago. The UN refugee body has attributed this to ongoing conflicts in various countries. It is in this light that this year’s World Refugee Day will be marked under the theme ‘1 Family Torn Apart by War is Too Many’ in recognition of the impact of conflict on families. “These truly are alarming numbers. They reflect individual suffering on a huge scale and they reflect the difficulties of the international community in preventing conflicts and promoting timely solutions for them,” said UNHCR chief Antonio Guterres. The Rwandan context There are about 70,000 Rwandan refugees – mainly in the neighbouring countries in the Great Lakes region – while over 4.5 million repatriated voluntarily in the last 19 years, as the country continues to prosper politically, economically and socially. Most became refugees in the aftermath of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi which claimed over 1 million Rwandans. However, others had already fled in 1959, when the ethnicity divisionism started escalating. Former governments later told these Rwandans to relinquish their nationality and become permanent citizens in their host countries because ‘the country was ‘stretched and could not accommodate them.’ After the 1994 Genocide, the current government, together with its partners embarked on a process to ensure that all Rwandans regain the right to their country, through encouraging them to voluntarily repatriate thus the return of millions. As an incentive, the government, in collaboration with the UN agency in Rwanda, reintegrated the returnees by providing basic needs like shelter, food, medical facilities, and domestic appliances to help them start new lives as well as offering them land. Recently a project that will help at least 5,000 vulnerable returnees was launched and it will be funded by the governments of Rwanda, Japan and International Organisation for Migration (IOM). The project dubbed “Enhancing socio-economic reintegration of Rwandan returnees and other vulnerable groups,” will be implemented in phases and will see returnees obtain vocational and technical skills and micro-business start-up kits, livestock assistance as well as construction materials to build their own houses. This was the fourth phase of the general project to reintegrate Rwandans returning from different countries. The project also intends to rehabilitate some infrastructure such as primary schools and health posts in communities where the returnees are being resettled. Over 8,300 returnees and other vulnerable Rwandans have been provided with direct reintegration assistance to secure sustainable livelihood since 2010. More than 2,600 beneficiaries were trained in vocational skills in carpentry, masonry, tailoring, mechanics, hairdressing and other market-driven skills. Secession Clause With the continued gains made by the Rwandan government, the UNHCR intends, effective end of June, to invoke the so-called Secession Clause, under which, Rwandans are found not to have a plausible reason to remain refugees in any country. This, in effect, implies that the few nationals who will have not returned will immediately lose their refugee status and the option will be either to return, or seek nationality in their respective host countries. In preparation for the imminent enforcement of the clause, authorities have set up a taskforce that will ensure that Rwandans wherever they are, are facilitated in every way. The taskforce, headed by the Ministry of Disaster Preparedness and Refugee Affairs, will also facilitate the issuance of passports or other national identification documents to those who will not be able to return home due to different reasons. Congolese refugees Besides Rwandan refugees, the country hosts refugees from other countries, mainly from the Democratic Republic of Congo, with thousands of them settled in three different camps and a transit centre. In trying to help these refugees, especially the children who find themselves in the camps, the UNHCR, together with the government of Rwanda, facilitated the establishment of ‘refugee learners’ with a drive to mainstream these centres into the national education system. This, according to Guterres builds on joint efforts between the Government of Rwanda, United Nations and other partners, in providing for both refugees and local children a solid foundation for an inspirational and peaceful learning environment. “This unique experience that the children are sharing today, will no doubt play a fundamental role in contributing towards greater efforts in regional peace and development,” she says.

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World Refugee Day: The Rwanda story