REFUGEES FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION UNHCR, APRIL 2023 2. Background to the study Legal pathways to local integration for long -term refugees The UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees was adopted in 1951 in recognition of the need to provide protection to those people who had fled their country of nationality 3 or (for those not having a nationality), their country of former habitual residence, for fear of persecution and are therefore unable to access the protection of that state. The status is intended to be temporary. UNHCR proposes that there are three “durable solutions” to the situation of refugees: voluntary repatriation, local integration in the country of asylum, or resettlement in a third country.4 Although voluntary repatriation to their country of origin has generally been viewed by many refugees themselves, and by national and international agencies as the preferred outcome for refugees, the reality is that for many refugees, repatriation may not be possible because of continued insecurity – or because the country of origin does not recognise them as its citizens; while long-term refugees may have developed stronger connections in their host country than their country of origin. Resettlement to a third country is only ever going to be possible for a small minority of those affected. As UNHCR therefore notes, “[g]roups for whom the option of local integration can be the most important include refugees born on a host country’s territory who are of undetermined nationality or at risk of statelessness, and refugees who have established close links in the host country.” 5 The UNHCR Executive Committee adopted a conclusion on local integration in 2005, in which it noted that: [C]haracteristics which may assist in determining circumstances in which local integration can be an appropriate durable solution could include, subject to States' consideration: (i) refugees born in asylum countries who might otherwise become stateless; and/or (ii) refugees who, due to their personal circumstances including the reasons prompting their flight, are unlikely to be able to repatriate to their country of origin in the foreseeable future; and/or (iii) refugees who have established close family, social, cultural and eco nomic links with their country of asylum, including those who already have, or have the capacity to attain, a considerable degree of socio-economic integration. 6 These categories are of particular relevance in the Great Lakes region. The UNHCR database recorded 4.68 million asylum seekers and refugees in the Great Lakes region at the end of 2022, of whom 1.5 million were in Uganda, 525,000 in DRC, and 121,000 in Rwanda. 7 Because date of arrival is not always reliably recorded in this database for those who arrived many years ago, it is difficult to provide an estimate of the percentage of the total number of refugees who have been hosted in the country of asylum for twenty years or more (and their children born in exile), referred to in this report as long-term refugees. However, a majority have been living for five years or more in the country of asylum, referred to by UNHCR as 3 In this report, “nationality” and “citizenship” are synonyms. “Nationality” is the term most often used in international law. At national level, the laws of Rwanda and DRC use the term “nationality” ( nationalité), whereas Uganda’s laws refer to “citizenship”, and the report follows this usage. See also Annex 2 for discussion of terminology used in this report. 4 ‘Framework for Durable Solutions for Refugees and Persons of Concern’, UNHCR, 2003 https://www.refworld.org/docid/4ae9ac93d.html. See also ‘Refugee Resettlement and Complementary Pathways: Opportunities for Growth’, UNHCR, September 2021 https://www.unhcr.org/afr/614462c94. 5 UNHCR’s 10-Point Plan of Action on Refugee Protection and Mixed Movements, 2nd ed, UNHCR, 2017, ‘Chapter 7: Solutions for Refugees’, p.186 https://www.unhcr.org/the-10-point-plan-in-action.html. 6 Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme, Conclusion on Local Integration No. 104 (LVI) - 2005, UNHCR, 7 October 2005 https://www.refworld.org/docid/4357a91b2.html. 7 ‘International Conference on the Great Lakes Region: Overview, Refugees, Asylum-seekers, and IDPs’, UNHCR, December 2022 https://data.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/98647. 6