The United Republic of Tanzania is a historically important refugee-hosting country and global champion for refugee solutions. The majority of refugees and asylum seekers are from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Chronic underfunding has resulted in serious gaps in the provision of humanitarian assistance.

UNHCR supports the Government of Tanzania in discharging its international obligations, fulfilling the organisation’s core objectives to provide refugees, asylum seekers and other people of concern with international protection, and to seek durable solutions to displacement.

In 2014, Tanzania made a landmark decision to naturalize some 162,000 Burundian refugees who fled to Tanzania in 1972, marking the largest group in UNHCR’s history to which naturalisation was offered by a country of first asylum as a solution to decades in exile.

In 2017, the governments of Tanzania, Burundi, and UNHCR agreed to assist refugees who wish to voluntarily repatriate from Tanzania to Burundi. Both governments and UNHCR agreed to uphold the principle of voluntariness, and noted that while some refugees may opt to return, others will continue to be in need of international protection. More than 70,000 refugees have returned since the exercise began in September 2017.

Resettlement continues to be used as a protection tool for refugees. In June 2015, Tanzania embarked on a five year Group Resettlement Programme aimed at resettling approximately 33,000 Congolese refugees to the USA. Since 2012, over 20,000 individuals have departed to the USA, Australia, and Canada. Tanzania is currently the largest resettlement country for the USA worldwide.

UNHCR works primarily with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), its direct government counterpart in Tanzania, and maintains partnerships critical to effective operations with other Government entities and NGO partners.

UNHCR works closely with other UN agencies through the UN Reform, Delivering as One initiative and participates in the UN Development Assistance Plan (UNDAP II) 2016-2021, under the Resilience Thematic Results Group. UNHCR also supports the United Nations Kigoma Joint Programme, an area-based programme with an increased focus on supporting host communities and strengthening the link between humanitarian and development initiatives in the region.

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