Paper short abstract:

Uganda is hailed as country with the best refugee policy in the World (GoU & UNHCR, 2017).Of late, accusations of kidnap and forceful repatriation of refugees and asylum seekers have been rife. Thus need for an assessment of policy and practice to know the role of norms and interests in place.

Paper long abstract:

Rather formidable arguments have emerged, posturing Uganda as a country with the best refugee policy in the world. Currently hosting 1,252,470 refugees and asylum seekers, Uganda is arguably the largest refugee hosting country in Africa and the third largest in the world (GoU and UNHCR, 2017). But to earn this reputation, Uganda has had to struggle to justify and explain (sometimes unconvincingly) aspects of its foreign policy and interventionist practices towards several of its neighbouring states. Controversies ranging from accusations involvement in the kidnap and forceful repatriation of refugees and asylum seekers, to supporting a myriad of rebel militias is some states, have been hailed back and forth. One therefore needs to transcend the conventional avowed foreign policy declarations to pry into the insidious and unstated actions that have characterized Uganda's immediate past. While it is important to review the national policy and legal framework in relation to international treaties and conventions to which Uganda is a signatory, it is equally advisable to excavate beneath the publicly declared motives and noble ideals and weigh them against the limited capacity and means Uganda has to work round to retain its image as a regional icon guarantor and protector of such a vulnerable category. It is only by doing this that a balanced and objective assessment of the role of norms and interests in shaping policy, the law and state practice can hopefully be achieved.