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Uganda's state responsibility under international law to safeguard refugee children's right to access education
Uganda is Africa's largest refugee hosting country and third in the world with more than 1.25 million refugees as of June 2017. The majority of refugees there are children. Uganda's refugee regime and hospitality date back to the days of World War II, prior to the country's independence, when it hos...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Public Law
2018
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| _version_ | 1867613434986627072 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Nsengimana, Jovenal |
| author2 | Lutchman, Salona |
| author_browse | Lutchman, Salona Nsengimana, Jovenal |
| author_facet | Lutchman, Salona Nsengimana, Jovenal |
| author_sort | Nsengimana, Jovenal |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Uganda is Africa's largest refugee hosting country and third in the world with more than 1.25 million refugees as of June 2017. The majority of refugees there are children. Uganda's refugee regime and hospitality date back to the days of World War II, prior to the country's independence, when it hosted refugees from European countries. Since then, the country has generously continued to open its borders to anyone seeking international protection and assistance mainly from the conflict affected countries in the East, Horn and Great Lakes Region of Africa. In compliance with the 1951 UN Convention and its 1976 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees and the OAU 1969 Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, Uganda enacted the Refugees Act No.21 of 2006 and the Regulations Act of 2010 to effectively manage refugee needs. The increase in the number of refugees in Uganda amidst the limited resources at its disposal poses serious challenges in meeting its international obligation to safeguard the rights of refugee children's access to education. This thesis examines the country's responsibility under international law to protect, promote and fulfil the right to access education for refugee children, particularly aimed at understanding the challenges of provision of education to strengthen multi-level response. Research finds international and regional instruments sufficient for the protection and guarantee of education for children. However, the main refugee treaties fail to adequately provide the right to education for refugee children. The UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees has provision for education rights but makes no reference to refugee children while the OAU 1969 Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa provides neither the right to education nor rights to children specifically. The analysis of Uganda's policy and laws on safeguarding refugee children's right to education revealed glaring shortfalls. The laws fail to provide adequate protection to refugee children's education rights. Notwithstanding the existence of an enabling legal and policy framework in Uganda that ensures access to education for nationals, refugee children continue to face legal and structural barriers in accessing post-primary education. The paper shows that both international and national laws guaranteeing the right to education for refugees limits the extent to which it is exercised. At national level, this is not only discriminatory but also inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution of Uganda relating to education and child rights. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/28071 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:36:05.922Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publishDateRange | 2018 |
| publishDateSort | 2018 |
| publisher | Department of Public Law |
| publisherStr | Department of Public Law |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/28071 Uganda's state responsibility under international law to safeguard refugee children's right to access education Nsengimana, Jovenal Lutchman, Salona International Law Human Rights Law Uganda is Africa's largest refugee hosting country and third in the world with more than 1.25 million refugees as of June 2017. The majority of refugees there are children. Uganda's refugee regime and hospitality date back to the days of World War II, prior to the country's independence, when it hosted refugees from European countries. Since then, the country has generously continued to open its borders to anyone seeking international protection and assistance mainly from the conflict affected countries in the East, Horn and Great Lakes Region of Africa. In compliance with the 1951 UN Convention and its 1976 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees and the OAU 1969 Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, Uganda enacted the Refugees Act No.21 of 2006 and the Regulations Act of 2010 to effectively manage refugee needs. The increase in the number of refugees in Uganda amidst the limited resources at its disposal poses serious challenges in meeting its international obligation to safeguard the rights of refugee children's access to education. This thesis examines the country's responsibility under international law to protect, promote and fulfil the right to access education for refugee children, particularly aimed at understanding the challenges of provision of education to strengthen multi-level response. Research finds international and regional instruments sufficient for the protection and guarantee of education for children. However, the main refugee treaties fail to adequately provide the right to education for refugee children. The UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees has provision for education rights but makes no reference to refugee children while the OAU 1969 Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa provides neither the right to education nor rights to children specifically. The analysis of Uganda's policy and laws on safeguarding refugee children's right to education revealed glaring shortfalls. The laws fail to provide adequate protection to refugee children's education rights. Notwithstanding the existence of an enabling legal and policy framework in Uganda that ensures access to education for nationals, refugee children continue to face legal and structural barriers in accessing post-primary education. The paper shows that both international and national laws guaranteeing the right to education for refugees limits the extent to which it is exercised. At national level, this is not only discriminatory but also inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution of Uganda relating to education and child rights. 2018-05-14T12:30:32Z 2018-05-14T12:30:32Z 2018 Master Thesis Masters MPhil http://hdl.handle.net/11427/28071 eng application/pdf Department of Public Law Faculty of Law University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | International Law Human Rights Law Nsengimana, Jovenal Uganda's state responsibility under international law to safeguard refugee children's right to access education |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Uganda's state responsibility under international law to safeguard refugee children's right to access education |
| title_full | Uganda's state responsibility under international law to safeguard refugee children's right to access education |
| title_fullStr | Uganda's state responsibility under international law to safeguard refugee children's right to access education |
| title_full_unstemmed | Uganda's state responsibility under international law to safeguard refugee children's right to access education |
| title_short | Uganda's state responsibility under international law to safeguard refugee children's right to access education |
| title_sort | uganda s state responsibility under international law to safeguard refugee children s right to access education |
| topic | International Law Human Rights Law |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/28071 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT nsengimanajovenal ugandasstateresponsibilityunderinternationallawtosafeguardrefugeechildrensrighttoaccesseducation |