3. ENSURING THAT TODAY’S REFUGEES ARE NOT TOMORROW’S STATELESS: SOLUTIONS IN A REFUGEE CONTEXT Regardless of these realities, there has been an intensive effort by the government of Rwanda, host governments and the international community to repatriate all Rwandans, motivated by both a general understanding of repatriation as the most favourable solution and a strong desire on the part of Rwandan authorities to repatriate its nationals in part to show that the chapter of conflict and flight is behind it. Since 2002, a series of tripartite agreements have been signed throughout the region,23 reflecting a policy shift on the part of UNHCR from facilitating return to actively promoting it.24 With most neighbouring countries reluctant to offer Rwandans the opportunity to apply for citizenship,25 with their asylum status under threat, and with resettlement all but impossible except in extreme protection emergencies,26 repatriation has become the only durable solution being offered to most former Rwandan refugees. Zambia is a likely exception in this regard, as they pledged to integrate 10,000 Angolan former refugees and are likely to integrate some of the former Rwandan refugees as well. As a result, the research showed that Rwandan refugees in Uganda – many of whom had had services withdrawn – were living with increasingly unclear legal status. In a context in which many do not view repatriation as an option, there is logically an impetus to hang on to refugee status or to integrate. However, the option of doing either of these legally is becoming more and more restricted, with refugee status being increasingly contested and naturalisation effectively cut off as 23 24 25 26 Rwanda has signed tripartite agreements with the UNHCR and Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Human Rights First, A Decade of Unrest: Unrecognised Refugees in Rwanda and the Future of Protection in the Great Lakes, 2004, p. 13. As Manby notes, “even where refugees make progress in terms of economic and social integration, there are often no possibilities of converting refugee status into permanent residence and citizenship”. B. Manby, Struggles for Citizenship in Africa, Zed Books 2009. For instance, on average only approximately 100 Rwandans have been resettled to the United States of America annually since 2003. See, United States Department of State and Department of Homeland Security and Department of Health and Human Services, “Proposed Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2006”, Report to the Congress, Submitted on behalf of the President of the United States to the Committees on the Judiciary United States Senate and United States House of Representatives in fulfilment of the requirements of Section 207(e) (1)-(7) of the Immigration Act. 86