Blogpost: “I can’t be a citizen if I am still a refugee”

Published: 12 Apr 2013

It is rare for countries to offer citizenship to groups of refugees, especially in the Great Lakes region where millions have been displaced. Instead, most governments wait for circumstances to change so that refugees can go back to their home country. In official refugee policy language, therefore, repatriation is typically favoured over local integration as…

What next for Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui?

Published: 11 Apr 2013

Please note that this blog was previously posted on www.katangatrial.org Four months after being acquitted in the second trial verdict at the International Criminal Court (ICC), Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui is fighting to remain in Europe, having applied for asylum in the Netherlands. His claim is based on his contention that information he presented during his…

“I can’t be a citizen if I am still a refugee:” Challenges in the naturalisation process for Burundians in Tanzania

Published: 1 Apr 2013

Approximately 162,000 former Burundian refugees in Tanzania are living in legal limbo in Tanzania. Having been accepted for naturalisation and having renounced their Burundian nationality, they are now unable to get certificates confirming their new status. The situation facing this group is the subject of a paper launched by the International Refugee Rights Initiative today, “I…