Nakivale (Uganda) : the UNHCR investigates reasons for the non-voluntary repatriation of Burundian refugees

For almost two weeks, the UNHCR has been conducting interviews with Burundian refugees to find out why they do not want to return voluntarily and en masse. Those concerned do not understand the reasons for this survey and fear harmful consequences.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

The census conducted in the form of an individual survey concerns Burundian refugees who fled in 2015 and 2016. The UNHCR explained that these are routine activities for updating data.

A family member aged 18 and over must respond to this interview. An adapted questionnaire is already available from the UNHCR survey agents and refugees only answer the pre-established questions. The survey is taking place in the Rubondo area which is home to more Burundians.

“Personal identification, year of arrival at the camp, living conditions, .. “, these are some of the elements of the said interview which is worrying in the Nakivale camp.

An important detail is highlighted. “Are you planning to return to the country? When? Yes or No? If the answer is ‘No’, the surveyors continue: why?”, testify refugees who were subjected to this exercise.

It is this last part which scares some.

“Why ask us when we will return home and the reasons when it should be the one who wants to return who presents himself for administrative and logistical formalities? There must be something unsaid behind this census”, say Burundians living in Nakivale.

Evoked reasons for non-return are numerous. For some, they raise the worrying situation of human rights in Burundi, killings, arbitrary imprisonments, and for others, they fear persecutions once upon returning or else those who talk about extreme poverty.

They all agree to recommend that there should not be consequences for answers given or else being expelled or a forced repatriation following results from that survey strongly Unwelcomed.

The UNHCR reassures

In 2023, a similar survey had been conducted for refugees who had fled in 2008 and 2010, who are still in exile. The UNHCR explains that the goal is the production of an overall report that has nothing worrying on the life of refugees.

At the beginning, the census was to target over 36,000 Burundian refugees, according to our sources, but it is being done while the Nakivale camp hosts more than 33,000.

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Several Burundian refugees at a census center of surveyors of the HCR at Nakivale, December 2024 (SOS Médias Burundi)