SOLVING STATELESSNESS access to any other immigration status in the countries that host them – including naturalisation. Rwanda’s official rhetoric claims that all is well in Rwanda. Since 1994, Rwanda’s per capita gross domestic product has almost tripled, education and health systems have improved dramatically, tourism is booming and there is broadband internet connection throughout much of the country. Kigali, the capital, gives all the appearance of orderliness and progress, and is home to the only parliament in the world with more women than men. Over the past decade, the international community, heartened by rapid economic development and riddled with guilt for their inaction during the genocide, has thrown its support behind President Kagame’s government, including support for the return of Rwandan refugees. However, although many Rwandans have returned home, tens of thousands remain in exile throughout the Great Lakes region and the world, and thousands continue to flee Rwanda. Research conducted with Rwandan refugees in Uganda pointed to a number of reasons why people continue to flee Rwanda and why they did not believe it was safe to return. Although Uganda has not formally invoked the cessation clause, my research found that refugees were aware of and fearful of this possibility, and that a number of newer arrivals had difficulty in gaining recognition. Overwhelmingly, those interviewed viewed the current Rwandan government as repressive, with frequent reference to the fact that dissent in many aspects of public and economic life is not tolerated, and that those who question the regime are subjected to human rights violations ranging from discrimination in employment to imprisonment and forced disappearance. Interviewees talked of how ethnicity is used as a basis for repression, with assertions that the genocide – and the legacy of guilt, heart-searching and recriminations that have surrounded it – is used by the government of Rwanda as a smokescreen for political repression, particularly through the association of Hutu identity with the genocide. However, the findings also showed that although repression is often manifest in relation to ethnicity, the real issue is the lack of space for political opposition within Rwanda regardless of ethnicity. Therefore, while the genocide and its immediate aftermath might have been the original cause of flight for many, ongoing political repression in Rwanda is not only preventing many refugees from returning, but is generating new refugees. In fact, almost a quarter of all those interviewed for the research had arrived in Uganda since 2001. 85