The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
While addressing the media on Friday ahead of tomorrow’s World Refugees Day, Boutrout said UNHCR will be unable to support refugees in terms of education and health services in the host communities. Boutrout attributed the financial crisis to coronavirus disease that has hampered world economies.
Nevertheless, Boutrout urged countries and able individuals to sacrifice the little they can afford in order to support refugees before the situation becomes worse. The general appeal is to countries worldwide to do far more to find homes for millions of refugees and others displaced by conflict, persecution or events seriously disturbing public order.
By the time of his call, UNHCR had just released its annual Global Trends report which showed that an unprecedented 79.5 million people were displaced as of the end of 2019, representing an all-time high in displacements over the years. But at the same time, there are diminishing prospects for refugees when it comes to hopes of any quick end to their plight.
“I would say failing to sustain the effort, we may have to take drastic efforts because we will not able to support refugees’ education, we will not be able to support more than 100 health centres in refugee-hosting communities and we will not be able to provide non-food support,” Boutrout said.
Statistics on refugees in Uganda that were released in February this year show the country hosts 1,394,678 refugees and 25,640 asylum seekers. Over the years, Uganda has been praised for being a beacon because of its friendly laws and policies towards refugees.
“Uganda has shown a refuge model. Refugees contribute positively to the development of regions where they are hosted. But the lockdown is impacting Ugandans and refugees. People are losing their jobs. Refugees are unable to cross borders to cultivate in South Sudan,” Boutrout said.
Boutrout said that this has hampered all self-sustaining efforts of refugees because of restricted movements and business operations that were put on halt in order to prevent the spread of the contagious disease.
Uganda hosts the third-largest number of refugees in the world slightly behind Turkey and Pakistan. Most of the refugees in Uganda according to Gerald Menya, the Commissioner for refugees come from South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Cong –DRC, and Burundi.
Uganda has so far recorded 755 positive cases of COVID-19. Of these, 492 have already recovered. But according to Menya, there are more than 800 refugees are in quarantine, 44 of which have been confirmed to have COVID-19 are already receiving treatment.
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