ADJUMANI, UGANDA — The nearly one million South Sudanese refugees in Uganda face shortages of food, water and medical care, but they have also brought with them the trauma of the war they fled. Aid agencies are struggling to meet the need for counseling for survivors of gender-based violence.

She was attacked in South Sudan six months ago, but she is still afraid to answer the door. VOA met this 35-year-old woman at the Pagirinya refugee settlement in Uganda. She spoke through a translator.

OUR COSTED EDUCATION PLAN FOR SOUTH SUDANESE REFUGEES IN UGANDA DEMONSTRATES THAT UNIVERSAL SCHOOLING IN CRISES LIKE THESE IS BOTH AFFORDABLE AND ACHIEVABLE.

Over half-a-million South Sudanese refugee children are living in refugee settlements across northern Uganda. The vast majority are out-of-school. Not that those in school are learning much. Most are packed into overcrowded tents or local schools lacking both textbooks and teachers who speak their language.

CONTEXT

Uganda has a long history of providing asylum, which dates back to the Second World War, when the country opened its doors to some 10,000 refugees from Poland. Since then, Uganda has maintained its borders open, providing sanctuary to people escaping conflicts and major political crises in neighbouring countries. By April-end 2017, Uganda was home to 1.25 million refugees, mainly from South Sudan.

Introduction

KEY MESSAGE: Users of the Toolkit are encouraged to enrich their narratives with relevant information about realities and prospects in their sphere of expertise, whether humanitarian or development or at sector level.

This Toolkit is a reference guide for those conducting advocacy and mobilizing support to address the comprehensive requirements of refugees and host communities in Uganda. It should be read in conjunction with the Concept Note on the Solidarity Summit.

Summary of Requirements for a Comprehensive Refugee Response in Uganda

Uganda hosts over 1.2 million refugees in 28 settlements in 12 districts (including Kampala) where refugees coexist peacefully with their host communities. The Ugandan model provides refugees with exemplary prospects for dignity, normality and self-reliance, and creates a conducive environment for pursuing development-oriented approaches.

FOOD SECURITY SNAPSHOT

By the end of 2016, Uganda was home to 940,800 refugees, originating from South Sudan (640,008), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (205,023), Burundi (40,742), Somalia (30,689), Rwanda (15,231), Eritrea (4,511), Sudan (2,545) and Ethiopia (2,002). By the end of May 2017, Uganda was home to 1,277,476 refugees, originating from South Sudan (947,427), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (204,413), Burundi (34,241), Somalia (25,321), Rwanda (13,907), Eritrea (4,310), Sudan (2,549) and Ethiopia (1,798). By the end of 2016, Uganda had the fifth-largest refugee population after Turkey …

UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie marked World Refugee Day 2017 visiting adolescent refugee girls in Nairobi.

Ms. Jolie met around 20 refugee girls, who are unaccompanied or separated from their parents and are now living in the Heshima Kenya Safe House and participating in a Girls’ Empowerment Programme.

The United States provided over $7 billion in humanitarian assistance in FY 2016, including more than $3.4 billion from the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM). These funds provided life-saving assistance and protection to the world’s 22 million refugees, and to millions of internally displaced persons (IDPs), conflict victims, stateless persons, and vulnerable migrants.

Uganda is the largest host country of refugees in Africa and the third largest in the world, after welcoming an average of 2 000 displaced men, women and children every day for the past 11 months.

The new statistics, released on Monday by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, come less than a week before Uganda’s Solidarity Summit on Refugees – a conference aimed to mobilise international support for those affected by the South Sudanese Civil War.

People who flee their homes because of conflict want to stay where they feel safe even though this may come with traumatic experiences.

Key messages:

• Each year millions of people are forced to leave their homes and seek refuge from conflicts, violence, human rights violations, persecution or natural disasters. The number of forcibly displaced people (refugees, asylum-seekers and internally displaced people) has continued to rise in 2016, calling for increased humanitarian assistance worldwide. The majority of today's refugees live in the developing world, which means that they flee to countries already struggling with poverty and hardship.

In Numbers

7.8 million people in need of relief food assistance, inclusive of an additional 2.2 million people from Amhara, Oromia and SNNPR.

2.7 million children, and pregnant and nursing mothers in need of specialized nutritious food to treat moderate acute malnutrition. Of this number, 1.3 million live in Nutrition Hotspot Priority 1 woredas (districts).

Highlights

Summary

According to the February 2017 Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), acute malnutrition remains a major public health emergency in South Sudan. Based on the most recent data from 23 counties, 14 of these have Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) at or above the emergency thresholds of GAM ≥15%. Based on this analysis, the IPC declared two counties (Leer and Mayandit in IPC 5- Famine) and Panyijar and Kouch into IPC 4!

Key Issues

• A fall armyworm infestation is currently wreaking havoc on belg crops across six regions in Ethiopia and is spreading at an alarming rate.

• The Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources has called on additional stakeholders’ participation to protect major maize growing areas from complete damage.

• Led by the National Disaster Risk Management Commission, the National Flood Task Force is finalizing a flood alert and flood contingency plan for preparedness and response.

• Ethiopia to host World Refugee Day in Gambella town

- Half a million South Sudanese children have fled to Uganda

- Many of them have witnessed or directly experienced extraordinary levels of violence 

-  EU must show support to Uganda at Solidarity Summit and address root causes of South Sudan crisis

BRUSSELS, 20 June 2017 - On World Refugee Day, World Vision reminds EU leaders of their obligation to support Uganda responding to massive refugee displacements coming from neighboring countries and particularly from South Sudan. 

Save the Children issues warning ahead of World Refugee Day
 
With nearly one million refugees expected to have crossed the border from South Sudan to Uganda by the end of this month, Save the Children is calling for education to be put at the centre of a make-or-break summit this week.
 
Almost three quarters of a million refugees – more than half of them children – have arrived in Uganda since fighting escalated last July.
 

ADJUMANI, UGANDA — This week, Uganda welcomes U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and other high-level international guests and donors for the two day Refugee Solidarity Conference (Thursday 6/22 and Friday 6/23). The conference in Kampala hopes to raise $8 billion to support refugees in Uganda for the next four years.

At the border separating Uganda from South Sudan, exhausted women and children arrive daily, hungry and dehydrated. Aid workers give them fortified biscuits.