Paper short abstract:

This paper examines how regional, international, and metropolitan politics shaped British policy toward refugees in colonial Kenya. Between 1910s and 1930s, different refuge-seekers were rejected, welcomed and allowed to become subjects, or given the choice of repatriation or indefinite internment.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper I trace the how ‘refugee’ was used by British officials in Kenya in the 1910s through the 1930s, and how policy was developed toward refuge-seekers. I consider a series of questions: how did colonial officials deal with those whom they identified as refugees? What were the implications of referring to individuals or groups as refugees, as opposed to immigrants, migrants, deserters, or fugitive belligerents? How did regional, international, and metropolitan politics shape how a ‘refugee’ would be treated? In an era and region where there was no applicable colonial or international law, how officials would identify and deal with refuge-seekers was never simple nor predictable.

I look at three examples to trace the development of refugee policy: Degodia pastoralists seeking refuge in the 1910s-1920s; Eritrean deserters from the Italian army in 1936; and Ethiopian refugees in 1936-7. In each case, officials harbored multiple opinions, from a willingness to admit all those in danger, to a desire to reject all refugees, to a willingness to admit only ‘real’ refugees, to a consideration of how refugees could be a political bargaining chip. What to do with refuge-seekers once they were on Kenyan soil was a matter of debate as well. Policies toward refuge-seekers ultimately emerged competing, often contradictory factors. Metropolitan pressure, international politics, colonial concerns, racism, an uneven awareness of international legal norms, and the actions of refuge-seekers themselves all contributed to the series of ad hoc and legal measures toward refugees.

Paper short abstract:

This paper analyses the current developments and challenges of the Ethiopian legal framework on refugees’ right to work which have not yet been adequately investigated. It draws on legal analysis and empirical socio-legal research among refugees and stakeholders in Ethiopia.

Paper long abstract:

Ethiopia has a long history of hosting refugees who are fleeing chronic conflict or drought in neighboring countries. It has signed the UN and OAU refugee conventions, demonstrating its determination to participate in global efforts to protect refugees. To domesticate the country’s international commitments, a new refugee law was adopted in 2019, granting a wide-ranging set of additional rights to refugees compared to previous laws.

This paper analyses the current developments and challenges of the Ethiopian legal framework on the refugees’ right to work which have not yet been adequately investigated. It draws on legal analysis as well as empirical socio-legal research among refugees and key stakeholders in Ethiopia by employing the users’ perspective approach. Its innovative approach to analyzing refugee law from a private law perspective will be an added value to research on refugee law. The investigation demonstrates that Ethiopian refugee law is mainly in line with the international and regional refugee conventions; but that there are other domestic laws, for instance in the realm of private law, that contradict with the protection of the right to work intended by the refugee law framework. Moreover, there are gaps in the implementation of the laws on the ground. The paper recommends more coherence among the different laws of the country to protect refugees’ right to work, and points to the need of adopting a broader, more integrated approach – beyond the narrow focus on refugee law – to assess the legal and actual protection of refugees’ right to work.

Paper short abstract:

This paper analyses integration policies, geopolitics of hosting, and practices of home-making in protracted refugee situations on the everyday level in Kenya, Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania from a descriptive bottom-up perspective.

Paper long abstract:

The paper argues that the full economic, political and social integration aspired by the international refugee regime remains largely different from the de facto national policies and also from the actual everyday practice. Instead of asking how the refugees adapt or alter the global refugee regime, the paper proposes to reverse the gaze and observe how the regime is translated into local integration policies on the one hand and into everyday home-making practices on the other hand. A bottom-up perspective reveals high levels of agency of refugees and displaced communities. But it also indicates that regional sociocultural contexts, national powerplays, and international politics remain decisive factors. The results point at various interdependent layers of de facto home-making and options for partial integration – and thereby a potential fourth durable solution. The research draws from long-term and multi-sited socio-anthropological field research conducted between 2015 and 2022.

Paper short abstract:

Uganda adopted a Self-reliance Strategy to address its growing refugee population. Little attention is given to refugee cultural maintenance. This paper explores the tension between South Sudanese refugees’ need to protect their cultural norms and the implementation of the Self-reliance Strategy.

Paper long abstract:

In 1999, Uganda adopted a Self-reliance Strategy (SRS) to address its growing and protracted refugee population. Self-reliance is defined by the UNHCR as a refugee’s social and economic ability to meet essential needs in a sustainable manner with dignity. Uganda encourages refugee self-reliance by allowing them to choose where they settle. A refugee may choose to live in an urban center where they enjoy the right to work and access to government social services. Alternatively, a refugee may live in a rural refugee settlement where each family is given a plot of land to live on and farm. Self-reliance ensures that refugees are treated in accordance with human rights principles, and addresses human development and self-esteem among refugees/returnees.

In harmony with Uganda’s SRS, most refugee aid programs in Uganda focus on livelihood strategies to achieve self-reliance. In line with Western concepts and values, the programs target individuals and promote income-generating activities that rely on market-based transactions Similarly, most of the scholarly research on Uganda’s Self-reliance approach focuses on livelihood strategies and welfare outcomes. Little attention has been given to understanding refugee cultural well-being, practice, and maintenance during asylum. Moreover, there is even less consideration of the potential for cultural values and livelihood strategies to increase refugee self-reliance during asylum.

Using findings from a research project conducted in northern Uganda among Dinka refugees from South Sudan, this proposed paper will explore the tension between South Sudanese refugees’ need to protect their cultural norms and the implementation of the Self-reliance Strategy.

Paper short abstract:

Contemporary political violence in the post-colonial states of Great Lakes Africa has produced many refugees who have become a source of instability in the region. This paper proposes to revisit the management of this issue in Rwanda, Burundi and DRC both nationally and internationally.

Paper long abstract:

As early as 1959, Rwanda produced the first refugees on the African continent. In the 1960s, the rebellions and secessions in eastern Congo led to the exile of many populations who sought asylum in neighboring countries. It was the same for Burundi from 1972.

To begin with, this paper shows the scale of the refugee issue that has gradually become the cause and consequences of contemporary violence in Great Lakes Africa.

We will then see how the countries concerned have tried to resolve the problems with the support of the international community through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and cooperation assistance.

We will finally note that despite the establishment of regional mechanisms for conflict prevention and management by the East African community (EAC) or the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), refugees are always a threat of instability, which should be given special attention.