Kampala Geopolitics Conference

Open and Closed Borders: The Global Plight of Refugees and Forced Migration

Summary

Seventy years ago, States came together to draft the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. The Convention sets out the rights of individuals who are granted asylum and the responsibilities of nations that grant asylum, however its application has remained controversial and difficult to enforce. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has supervisory responsibilities but cannot enforce the Convention, and there is no formal mechanism for individuals to file complaints.

The Government of Uganda has been applauded for maintaining its open door policy of granting asylum to people fleeing war and insecurity. Uganda is currently hosting close to 1.5 million refugees, making it the largest refugee hosting country in Africa and the fourth largest in the world. Amongst the refugees, around 83 percent are women and children. Uganda’s long-standing openness was once again in the spotlight, with the decision to temporarily host 2,000 Afghan refugees.

Uganda isn’t alone – developing countries host 86 percent of the world’s refugees. Other wealthier States, even before the pandemic, chose to close their doors to refugees. In 2015, the tragic image of two-year-old Syrian Alan Kurdi lying face down on a Turkish beach after drowning in a failed sea crossing to Europe caused global outrage, yet did little in terms of impacting State’s policies.

As the COVID-19 pandemic shook the world in 2020, the world went into lockdown and resulted in increasing unwillingness to meet the obligations set out in the 1951 Convention – often citing the need to address domestic concerns. Ultimately: How do states instrumentalize the “refugee question” in the interest of their domestic and international agenda?

Conference

Details

  • Session Type: Panel Conversation
  • Time: 11:00 am
  • Venue: CTF2, Auditorium

Meet the Panelists

Ojok Okello

Ojok Okello

Founder & CEO, Okere City

Ojok Okello is a social entrepreneur, community organizer and development manager trained from Makerere and the LSE. Earlier in his career, Ojok worked on many post-conflict reconstruction projects in Northern... Read more

Mildred Ouma

Senior SGBV Officer, UNHCR

Molly Ajonye

Molly Ajonye

Vice Chairperson Refugee Welfare Committee, Kokodita Women led Support Group

Edgar Mwine

Edgar Mwine

Immigration Officer, Ministry of Internal Affairs

Agnes Igoye

Agnes Igoye

Deputy National Coordinator on Prevention Trafficking of Persons, Ministry of Internal Affairs

Agnes Igoye is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School and of the University of Oxford. Agnes escaped human traffickers at 14 when the Lord’s Resistance Army raided her village.... Read more
Verena Kasirye

Verena Kasirye

Head of Division Western Europe, North America, European Policy Issues, Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung

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