On this page, you will find:
To find organisations working for LGBTQI+ rights, visit our Uganda LGBTQI+ Resources page.
For Uganda country of information (COI) experts, reports, commentaries, and relevant documents visit our Uganda COI page.
Refugee protection
Click here to see the numbers and origins of refugees hosted by Uganda.
The following sections contain information on the most important international treaties and agreements of which Uganda is signatory, as well as national legislation relevant to the protection of refugees.
In 1976, Uganda ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. Later, in 1987, Uganda ratified the 1969 OAU Convention Governing Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa. Furthermore, Uganda has taken a leading role in promoting the adoption of the Kampala Convention, formally known as the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa. As such, as signatories to the main international legal instruments for refugee convention, Uganda is often recognised as having one of the most progressive refugee protection regimes in the world.
Uganda as additionally adopted two pieces of legislation, the 2006 Refugees Act and 2010 Refugee Regulation, both of which reflect the government’s commitment to current international standards of refugee protection. The 2006 Refugees Act possesses several obligations including group recognition (e.g., in times of mass influx temporary protection is granted by the Minister of Disaster Preparedness and Refugees for a period of 2 years or until the cause of influx ceases) and rights and obligations (such as the right a identity card and travel document). The 2010 Refugee Regulation, on the other hand, allows for the integration of refugees within host communities and ensures access to same public services as nationals.
Legal aid organisations
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Address: Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI), Human Rights House, Plot 1853, Lulume Road Nsambya; P.O. Box 11027, Kampala
Tel: +256-752-791963
Tel (Legal Services Toll-Free Line): 0800100016
Email: fhri@dmail.ug or fhri91@gmail.com
FHRI’s Legal Services Unit promotes sustainable access to justice and advocates for best practices in the administration of justice in Uganda. The Unit provides legal aid services to poor and vulnerable communities, sensitizes leaders on basic human rights, and carries out capacity building for the judiciary. FHRI runs a full-fledged legal clinic at the Human Rights House, as well as two legal aid field offices in Kalangala and Wakiso districts. FHRI utilizes the community legal aid model to focus on outreach and legal empowerment in deprived and hard-to-reach areas. FHRI undertakes cases in relation to human rights abuses arising from areas of law including family, succession or matrimonial law, land law, natural resources, labour law, and property rights. The Legal Services Unit has a toll-free line (0800100016) to support FHRI’s rapid response mechanism to human rights violations.
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Address (Uganda): PO Box 50046, Luzira, Kampala
Tel:+256 75 13 84 205
Email: info@justice-defenders.org
Contact Person: Victor Wildeman
Founded in 2007 as Africans Prisons Project, Justice Defenders is an organisation that works to facilitate a just legal process through legal education, training, and practice. Many of their defenders themselves have previously experienced detention, death row, and life in prison. Justice Defenders trains paralegals and lawyers within defenceless communities to provide legal services for both themselves and others. They establish law practices within prisoners and detention centers, provide free legal services, and run legal awareness clinics for those without access to justice.
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Address: 4 Jivhan Road; P.O.Box 780, GULU, Uganda
Tel: 0414221356
Contact Person (Country Director): Laura Marshall (laura.marshall@nrc.no)
NRC Uganda provides humanitarian assistance and legal aid to refugees and internally displaced persons. The Information, Counselling, and Legal Assistance (ICLA) Team helps refugees obtain legal documentation, resolve disputes on housing, land, and property, research and provide informative training sessions on housing, refugee status determination, legal identity, and address issues around refugee status determination. In addition to legal aid, NRC Uganda provides education, food security, shelter, and sanitation programmes.
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Address: Faculty of Law, Makerere University, Plot 9, Perryman Gardens, Old Kampala, PO Box 33903 Kampala
Tel: +256 (0)4 14 34 35 56
Email: info@refugeelawproject.org
The RLP is an outreach project out of the School of Law at Makerere University, Uganda. The project provides pro bono legal aid, counseling and psychosocial services, education, and training to asylum seekers, refugees, deportees, and internally displaced people in Uganda. The psychosocial services offered include counseling and referrals on a range of non-legal matters, including sexual and gender-based violence, access to medical care, housing and education. RLP also offers English language training and services led by trained and qualified lawyers, and paralegal and psychosocial staff both from Uganda and abroad.
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Address: Plot 610, Buye, Ntinda along Walama Road off Ntinda-Kisaasi road
Tel: +256414342424
Email: uls@uls.or.ug
The Uganda Law Society provides a pro bono scheme for indigent persons in need of legal services and advocates who are willing and able to assist. All services are both confidential and free so to provide aid for vulnerable and under privileged persons in Uganda.
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Address (UK): Linton House, 39-51 Highgate Road, London, NW5 1RT
Tel: +44(0)207 916 9276
General email: info@warchild.org.uk
Programme email: africa.progammes@warchild.org.uk
Address (Canada): 489 College St. Suite 500, Toronto, Ontario, M6G 1A5
Tel: +18 66 92 72 445
Email: info@warchild.ca
Address (Netherlands): Helmholtzstraat 61-G , 1098 LE Amsterdam
Tel: +31 20 42 27 777
Email: info@warchild.nl
Address (Uganda): Market Street Plot 8 -10, Lira, P.O.Box 1033, Lira
Email: kampala.office@warchild.nl
War Child International is an international charity with main offices in the UK, Canada, and Netherlands. It works with children all over the world to reduce the effects of poverty, provide education, and defend and promote child rights. The programmes in Uganda include access to education, as well as protection against the Lord’s Resistance Army. War Child International has also worked to address the lack of legal protection for women and survivors of SGBV, and South Sudanese refugees in Adjumani, Arua, Kiryandongo and Koboko to provide legal aid and counseling advice.
Organisations providing other support to refugees
Address: Office of the Prime Minister Uganda
Postel Building, Yusuf Lule Road; P.O. Box 341 Kampala
Tel: +256 41 42 54 252
Fax: +256 41 43 41 139
Contact Person: Senior Protection Officer (asiimwedw@yahoo.com) and Commissioner (dakazungu@yahoo.com)
The Disaster Preparedness, Management, and Refugees agency is the lead organisation responsible for disaster preparedness and management in Uganda. It coordinates risk reduction, prevention, preparedness, mitigation, and response actions across the country in collaboration with government ministries, humanitarian and development partners, and private sector entitities.
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Address (HRAPF House): Plot 1 Nsubuga Road, Off Ntinda – Kiwatule Road, Ntinda
Address (Postal): PO Box 25603 Kampala, Uganda
Fax: +256 (0)414 530683
Email: info@hrapf.org
HRAPF is an NGO human rights advocacy organisation whose mission is to protect and promote the human rights of marginalised and at-risk populations by enhancing access to justice, research, legal services, and capacity. HRAPF provides several relevant programmes including the Access to Justice Program, general research and advocacy, Community Capacity Enhancement, and Institutional Development. In their Access to Justice Program, HRAPF conducts legal aid camps and awareness sessions aimed at marginalised and at-risk communities.
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Address: International Refugee Rights Initiative, Plot 83, Katalima Road, Naguru, P.O. Box 7785, Kampala, Uganda
Tel: +256 41 43 40 274
Fax: +256 41 43 40 275
Email: info@refugee-rights.org
The IRRI is primarily an advocacy organisation and does not undertake legal aid services for refugees. It does, however, perform on-the-ground advocacy and contributes to the improvement of models of law and practice to better recognize human rights in conflict and displacement. The IRRI engages in legal and field-based research in order to better understand how policy impacts communities experiencing conflict. IRRI tends to bridge between advocates in New York and Kampala, enabling knowledge diffusion and interaction.
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Address: JRS Uganda, Old Gaba Road, behind US Embassy, P.O. Box 7410, Kampala, Uganda
Tel: +254 41 42 66 264
Email: easternafrica@jrs.net
JRS is an international Catholic organisation with a mission to accompany, serve, and advocate on behalf of refugees and other forcibly displaced persons. JRS provides educational services, psychosocial support, pastoral care, peace-education, and emergency relief in Kampala and Kitgum. JRS will assist new arrivals by providing information, both food and non-food items, rent payment, medical assistance, transport, and psychosocial support.
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Address (Main): Nsambya Gogonya off Kabega Road PO Box: 71360 KAMPALA, Uganda
Address (Field): Kyaka II Refugee Settlement and Palabek Refugee Settlement
Tel: (+256) 200912345
Email: info@yarid.org or yariduganda@gmail.com
YARID is a refugee-led organization in Kampala, Uganda. YARID’s mission is to empower refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced persons to overcome the burdens of deprivation and vulnerability to become healthy, educated, self-sustaining and contributing members of society. Currently, YARID’s core programmes include protection services, job application support, English courses, ICT training, education, and classes to provide skills needed to start businesses.
Uganda LGBTQI+ Resources
Find organisations working for refugee LGBTQI+ rights in Uganda.
Uganda COI
Find Uganda Country of Origin information (COI) experts, reports, commentaries, and relevant documents.
We are always looking to expand the resources on our platform. If you know about relevant resources, or you are aware of organisations and/or individuals to include in our directories, please get in touch.
Last updated May 2023