Categories for Link Post

Annual Report 2018-2019 #IRRI@15

Published: 9 Mar 2022

FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR When I was joining IRRI in the first quarter of 2019, I could not have imagined the dynamism and shifts we would experience by the end of 2019. We changed. Simply put. At the milestone of 15 years, we determined that we needed to re- strategise and rethink IRRI, and what…

Quest for citizenship – the story of the Maragoli

Published: 23 Jan 2019

Statelessness affects ten thousands of people in East Africa. Being stateless has significant negative impact on the lives of affected persons – who are unable to access fundamental rights to which they are entitled under human rights law, but which require state mediation to access in practice. Without identification documents they are not able to…

“We Do not Honour Agreements” Dialogue and Peace Agreements in South Sudan

Published: 5 Nov 2018

As South Sudanese and international actors evaluate the potential of the recently signed agreement to move the country towards peace, the International Refugee Rights Initiative has released a new report highlighting the views of South Sudanese citizens, both who have remained at home and the displaced, on dialogue and peace agreements. Although the research was…

Bidi refugee cam

Uganda’s refugee policies: the history, the politics, the way forward

Published: 17 Oct 2018

  Uganda’s refugee policy urgently needs an honest discussion, if sustainable solutions for both refugees and host communities are to be found, a new policy paper by International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) reveals. The paper, entitled Uganda’s refugee policies: the history, the politics, the way forward puts the “Ugandan model” in its historical and political…

Eritrean refugees and the Ugandan asylum system

Published: 25 Jul 2018

  A new policy paper by the International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) examines Eritrean asylum seekers’ ability to access refugee status in Uganda. It shows how the combination of low recognition rates, the proliferation of informal interlocutors and corruption all render refugee status increasingly inaccessible to Eritreans and undermine the efficiency of the Ugandan asylum system….

Funding gaps threaten critical aid for refugees in Uganda

Published: 27 Jun 2018

Joint statement by 26 international NGOs in Uganda on the need for urgent action to address gaps in funding for the refugee response. Uganda hosts the largest number of refugees in Africa, and is among the top refugee hosting countries globally. Every day more people, mostly women and children, continue to arrive in search of…

Open Letter to UNSC on Proposed Reduction to the UNAMID Mandate in Darfur

Published: 22 Jun 2018

22 June 2018 To United Nations Security Council Members Re: Proposed reduction to the UNAMID mandate in Darfur Dear Ambassadors, We, the undersigned Sudanese, scholars, human rights organizations and leading activists, write to you to express our concerns with the upcoming proposal regarding the status of UNAMID. In light of frequent and recent devastating incidents of violence,…

Meeting of AU Member States on the draft Protocol on the Right to a Nationality in Africa

Published: 7 May 2018

“African States should seize the opportunity to set clear standards on the recognition of nationality and the eradication of statelessness”, urged a coalition of African civil society organisations working on the issue. Member States are meeting in Abidjan, 7-11 May 2018, to discuss the text of a draft protocol to the African Charter on Human…

Tough Times Ahead for UN Mission in Congo

Published: 26 Apr 2018

  On March 30, the UN Security Council renewed the mandate of the UN Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), known under its acronym MONUSCO. In contrast to last year, it was renewed without the threat of budget cuts or any major changes to its complex mandate. The mission maintains its two priorities: addressing the tense…

IRRI’s 2017 Annual Report

Published: 23 Apr 2018

IRRI’s 2017 Annual Report  highlights  our work in a year of significant achievement for us, as we continued to work on our three main programmatic areas of: -identifying the violations that cause displacement and exile; -protecting the rights of those who are displaced, and -ensuring resolutions to their displacement are durable, rights respecting, safe and timely. The…

“My Children Should Stand Strong to Make Sure We Get Our Land Back”: Host Community Perspectives of Uganda’s Lamwo Refugee Settlement

Published: 28 Mar 2018

  By January 2018, there were approximately 1.4 million refugees and asylum seekers in Uganda, the majority of whom are from South Sudan. The rapid expansion and demarcation of land for refugee settlements in northern Uganda has allowed national and international actors to respond to the humanitarian needs of South Sudanese refugee communities. While this…

“Movement restricted”: new policy paper on Congolese refugees in Angola

Published: 20 Mar 2018

  Between March and July 2017, close to 35,000 Congolese refugees fled atrocities in the Kasai region and sought safety in Angola. While the Angolan government has offered many safety from militia and army attacks in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), its treatment of those who have fled is troubling. IRRI’s policy paper –…

INGOs for continuation of assistance to refugees in Uganda

Published: 15 Mar 2018

We, the undersigned International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs), are taking the allegations of fraud and corruption in the South Sudanese refugee response in Uganda seriously and urge that they are urgently investigated and appropriate measures and sanctions are taken. We are concerned that these allegations are impacting donors’ and UN agencies allocation of funds for this…

What’s happening in Ituri?

Published: 6 Mar 2018

Over sixty people killed, thousands of houses burned down and more than 100,000 displaced people, including 42,000 refugees in neighbouring Uganda. Those are the consequences so far of the violence in the north-eastern Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since December 2017. The violence marks a counterpoint to the general trend in…

Joint Letter on Accountability for Human Rights Violations in South Sudan

Published: 23 Feb 2018

  To Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Geneva 23 February 2018 RE: Renewing and strengthening the mandate of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan to ensure accountability for gross violations of human rights and related crimes in South Sudan Excellencies, We, the undersigned national, regional and…

Preventing illegal extraditions, refoulement and cross-border persecution in East Africa

Published: 31 Jan 2018

Following recent cases of abductions and extraditions in East Africa, a new policy paper by the International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) seeks to clarify the key legal obligations of countries hosting foreign political opponents and opposition figures, and to urge governments to respect these obligations. Across East Africa the protection of politically active or politically…

Violence and displacement in the Kasai: report on DRC

Published: 16 Jan 2018

International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) published a new report about violence and displacement in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It describes how attacks by a militia were followed by abusive military operations and mass killings by a pro-government militia, causing the death and displacement of hundreds of thousands. IRRI spoke…

As Burundi Leaves the ICC, Can the AU Play a Role?

Published: 27 Oct 2017

“I don’t want to go back [to Burundi],” Marie[i], a 29 year old widow, told International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) in June, when we interviewed her in a refugee settlement in Uganda. “There are too many criminals in Burundi and I know they can’t put them all in prison.” Her husband, an opposition member, had…