Uganda hosts Africa’s largest refugee camp, 1.6 million people. More than twice as many as those in the European Union, as a percentage of its population.
But financial cuts could put its open-door model in jeopardy. Most of the refugees come from neighboring South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, both tormented by violence and clashes.
81% of them are women and children, often fleeing after their villages were assaulted and their husbands and fathers got killed.
The Nakivale settlement, home to 185.000 people in South West Uganda, receives new arrivals every week. “I was outside, and when I was back home, my family had left. And so I also left. I haven’t seen them” a displaced boy said.
Uganda lets everyone come in, benefitting from the humanitarian aid provided by international partners, who finance infrastructures like schools and hospitals, used both by refugees and the local population.
The government even grants immediate protection to those who come from regions at war, as explains Claire Birungi Agaba from the Norwegian Refugee Council, one of the organizations involved.