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• Comment: Please do not cite local resources (refs #12-15), all sources must be published and publicly accessible. DoubleGrazing (talk) 13:57, 3 January 2024 (UTC)

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Refugees Living with Disabilities in Uganda

Life as a refugee is challenging but even more challenging for refugees with disabilities. Refugees with disabilities are socially excluded, highly discriminated, neglected, exploited and many are viewed as burdens to families and society.

As of August 2023, Uganda hosts over 1,556,750 refugees and asylum seekers and most of them come from South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo.Uganda has been hosting refugees and asylum seekers since achieving its independence in 1962and now it is the largest refugee host country in Africa and the 4th in the all world.

Uganda has been praised as a generous country with progressive refugee policies and laws that reflect the country national, regional and international obligations. Refugees have a right to work, freedom of movement, right to work, establish a business, own property, access to justice, land use rights and have a right to social services same as Ugandans including health care and free primary education and refugees can live anywhere in the country but most of them live in the settlements and urban areas which is Kampala. As of now, Uganda has over 13 settlements where refugees live, but some of them have chosen to stay outside the settlements with majority living in urban areas especially in Kampala.The constitution of Uganda under Article 35 recognizes the rights of the persons with disabilities but also provides for applications requiring urgent attention in determining refugee status as including those made by persons with disabilities. Further section 48 provides for regulations which may be made by the minister for refugees in affirmative action of among others refugees with disabilities. Despite all these efforts, there are still a lot of issues that affect refugees living with disabilities.

Issues affecting Refugees Living with Disabilities in Uganda

Data, statistics and information concerning refugees living with disabilities in Uganda remains a major challenge and issues. The UNHCR estimates that 1.9 million out of 65.3 million persons of concern including asylum seekers, internally displaced persons have serve disabilities. The World Health Organization also estimates that about 15% of the world's population has a disability. In situations of forced displacement, the incidence of disability is usually higher because a larger proportion of people have injuries, lack access to medical services, and face barriers in their environment. However, establishing the exact number of refugees living with disabilities in Uganda remains a huge task.

Uganda has pledged a commitment to protect refugees but the support systems do not take the needs of the persons with disabilities in to account. There is no data on number of refugees with disabilities and yet they are the most marginalized among refugees. Refugee women with disabilities live on the edge of sexual violence like exploitation and abuse since they cannot defend themselves in case of any violence and this is mainly due to their disabilities.

Lack or no access to employment, in both urban areas and the settlements only a negligible number of refugees with disabilities are employed in the main stream job market that is 1 out of 200 persons with disabilities can be employed. Most of the refugees with disabilities are peasants and even lack skills and education for self job start up. The limited participation of persons with disabilities in the decision making processes in that most there is very little meaningful participation and access to feedback and complaint mechanism for refugees with disabilities with in the country.

Stigmatization and discrimination of the refugees living with disabilities within the urban areas and settlements. Most refugee communities maintain traditional views about disability and have negative attitudes towards Refugees with disabilities which stops them from acknowledging their rights as human beings. Refugees living with disabilities are frequently considered less human, a burden to curse to society and there normally abused, isolated and denied participation in the community activities.

Unfriendly and inconvenient structures, 85% of the housing structures in Uganda are not accessible or disability friendly. Refugees living with disabilities have to share toilet and washroom facilities with many other families in urban areas and various settlements and this deplorable hygienic conditions expose refugees living with disabilities to risks of contagious diseases such as waterborne diseases, infections and many more.

Access to rehabilitation services and psycho social services. In urban areas and in the settlements where refugees with disabilities live, there are no rehabilitation services within community health facilities and one can only access them in government hospitals but with payments made which refugees cannot afford.

Refugees living with disabilities also have difficulties accessing humanitarian assistance, education, livelihoods and other services. They maybe denied certain legal rights, and are often excluded from decision-making processes and leadership opportunities.

Education challenges. In the context of the refugees, the inclusive schools were limited and hard to access However, education implementing partner like Windle International Uganda and Finn Church Aid have tried to provide education by giving scholarships to stay and construct appropriate institutions for the people with the special needs respectively. But there still many children with disabilities that are excluded from education due to the numerous hardships such as long distance to and from school, inaccessible school environments, lack of special needs education teachers, lack of sign language interpreters, discrimination of children with disabilities by the children with out disabilities and the teachers themselves.

Conclusion

Refugees with disabilities are some of the most marginalized people in the world. Navigating daily life requires all the courage and resilience, especially given that they are a largely forgotten group by governments and humanitarian organizations. There is an urgent need for research to generate accurate and reliable data on refugees living with disabilities for policy and planning purposes, need for inclusion of persons with disabilities in humanitarian programs and projects so that their livelihoods are improved, skilling and educating of refugees with disabilities to deal with the challenge of unemployment and low income so that they are able to start their own jobs and earn some income to take care of their families, establishment of child parent fund to cater for the care takers who have to give up work to attend to someone. There is also need to create awareness about the rights of persons with disabilities so that there is reduction of discrimination and provision of better essential services that are accessible to refugees with disabilities.