REFUGEES FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION UNHCR, APRIL 2023 (limited) humanitarian assistance and the right to access a plot of land – benefits that would not be available after acquiring another status in the country. Despite the material progress of some long-term refugees, there was also a collective sense that they would always be seen as refugees by Ugandans, and thus local integration was not really possible. Although there was a recognition that children born in Uganda have limited knowledge of their parents’ place of birth, the parents felt they should keep their identity as Congolese or South Sudanese. It should be noted that the focus groups were conducted in the rural camps for refugees. The responses are quite likely to be different for the minority of refugees who live in urban areas and are less dependent on UNHCR assistance or access to land. Views of host communities Focus group discussions were held among the communities hosting refugee camps in Uganda. It was not possible to conduct focus groups with host communities in Rwanda or DRC during the timeframe of the study. Uganda Focus groups conducted with host communities at the refugee settlements visited in Uganda (all except Kiryandongo) indicated that there was broad acceptance of the idea of granting citizenship to long-term refugees. There was recognition that some refugees were more connected to Uganda than their country of origin, knew local languages and had no desire to return – especially those born in Uganda. Refugee children and host community children school together and play together without problems. The focus groups also indicate that intermarriage is accepted – although cultural differences (for example over dowry payments) and the aspirations of some refugees to retain refugee status and seek resettlement could sometimes put strain on these relationships. This acceptance of refugee acquisition integration and acquisition of citizenship is reflected by a survey conducted by Afrobarometer in Uganda in 2011, in which almost two-thirds of those surveyed indicated that they thought that a child born in the country of two non-citizen parents should be entitled to Ugandan citizenship; in addition, 60 percent of respondents thought living and working in the country should provide such rights. 84 The findings of this research suggest that this openness to acquisition of nationality extends to refugees and their children born in Uganda. New refugee arrivals, however, disturb existing agreements among refugee and host community leadership institutions, and create greater pressure on available land, leading to conflict over resources and straining established relationships. New arrivals from South Sudan spoke no common language with the local population – unlike those from eastern DRC, who speak Swahili – making communication difficult. Relations among the new arrivals themselves were also sometimes conflictual, especially among those from South Sudan, continuing the patterns of violence in South Sudan itself. The small plots of land now being allocated to refugees, and the inadequacy of food rations, mean that refugees move into host community areas seeking to rent land to cultivate, increasing prices for land, while depressing wages. In some places, the district authorities have successfully assisted in resolving refugee-host community conflicts (for example, between refugee farmers and Ugandan herders in Nakivale). For these reasons, it was argued that grant of citizenship to long-term refugees should be accompanied by allocation of plots of land that are clearly demarcated and do not encroach on host community land. In Kyaka II settlement host community, focus group participants reported that a number of refugees had obtained national ID cards during the 2014-15 registration exercise, but also retained refugee IDs. This 84 Afrobarometer, ‘Online Data Analysis Tool, Round 5 (Questions on Citizenship and Identity)’, 2013, https://www.afrobarometer.org/online-data-analysis/ (questions: right to be citizen: born in country with two noncitizen parents; right to be citizen: lived and worked in country). 34 countries surveyed, not including DRC or Rwanda. 28