UNHCR, APRIL 2023 REFUGEES FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION The Minister of State for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees within the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) is responsible for refugee affairs. The Refugees Act 2006 and its 2010 Regulations provide for refugees to have the right to be issued identity and travel documents. 278 A refugee card is valid for five years, renewable, until refugee status ceases. Asylum-seekers are provided with an asylum-seeker certificate that is renewable every three months. The asylum-seeker certificate grants them the right to stay until such a time as their status has been determined. The Act provides that identification documents for children and unaccompanied minors shall be issued in accordance with the principles applicable to a recognised refugee. 279 There is no process to register refugees as also stateless, if that is the case. Refugees have freedom of movement, and are not restricted to camps, but most live in refugee settlements, where humanitarian assistance is available. Only 6 per cent of the refugee population is registered in Kampala. As of 30 June 2020, a total of 44 per cent of refugees had refugee IDs; 280 however, all refugees are issued with a refugee attestation on registration that also serves as identification and is mostly accepted by government and private sector institutions. A convention travel document may also be issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in consultation with OPM, on payment of a fee. Civil registration Applicable law: Registration of Persons Act No.4 of 2015 Uganda’s constitution provides that “The State shall register every birth, marriage and death occurring in Uganda”.281 The Registration of Persons Act 2015 merged civil registration and identification functions and transferred authority for registration of births and deaths to a new agency, the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA). The Act makes the registration of every birth within Uganda both free and compulsory, and for the first time permits birth certificates to be issued in all registration areas, and not only in Kampala.282 The legal framework is significantly less comprehensive than that provided in DRC or Rwanda. However, some gaps are filled by other legislation, including the Marriage Act and Children Act. 283 In addition, the Statutory Declaration Act establishes a process for the legal recognition of declared facts, if documents such as civil registration certificates are not available. 284 Parents must register a birth “immediately” (no timeline specified); late registration of birth is possible, if “the registrar is satisfied of the truth of the particulars and is directed to register the birth by the executive 278 Refugee Act 2006, section 29(1)(a) and section 31; Refugees Regulations, 2010, regulations 42-48. 279 Refugee Act 2006, section 32(3). 280 Uganda: Refugee Policy Review Framework Country Summary as at 30 June 2020 , UNHCR, March 2022 https://reliefweb.int/report/uganda/uganda-refugee-policy-review-framework-country-summary-30-june-2020march-2022 281 Constitution of Uganda 1995, as amended, Article 18. 282 Registration of Persons Act, secs. 28, 39. 283 Marriage Act, Chapter 251, Laws of Uganda (originally the Marriage Ordinance 1902), as amended 2014; Children Act, 1996, as amended 2016, Chapter 59, Laws of Uganda. 284 Statutory Declarations Act 2000, Chapter 22, Laws of Uganda. 75