The experiences and needs of returning refugees to Kigali, Rwanda and the role of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in their repatriation.
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Date
2006
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Abstract
The study was designed to understand the experiences and needs of returning refugees to
Kigali, Rwanda and the role of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) in their repatriation. The study adopted a qualitative research method where
in-depth interviews were conducted with 23 returnees and 4 key informants; 2 from the
UNHCR and 2 from the GoR. Many African countries especially in the Great Lakes
region have been variously hit by military and ethnic conflicts that are responsible for the
refugee plight. While the UNHCR and its partners have tried its level best to deal with
refugees' problems in the region, many challenges remain in repatriation and reintegration
of Rwandese returnees. This is due to institutional weaknesses, lack of multidisciplinary
approaches to solving the returnees' problems, poor governance and failure
to monitor the sustainability of development projects and plans that are in line with the
returnees/refugees needs. The capacity to design and implement successful refugee policy
programmes in Africa is weak from the global to the community level. Even the external
assistance for the returnees to Rwanda is failing because of lack of 'in-country'
experience needed to understand returnees' needs and to find appropriate durable
solutions. African governments must make efforts to operationalise refugee laws and
polices and draw on locally conceived ideas for addressing refugees/returnees problems
on the continent. In this study the findings in Chapter five indicate that virtually all
returnees experienced violence, victimization, psychological distress and extremely
traumatic genocide experiences. The returnees' recovery from trauma and loss of their
relatives during the genocide, especially among the new caseload returnees, appeared to
be complicated by overwhelming blame and guilt associated with the outcome of the
Gacacca court investigations and the various unmet needs for social intervention after
retuning to Rwanda. Many participants experienced difficulty in coping with life in
Rwanda, yet little is known by the GoR about the coping patterns of such returnees. The
study highlights possible recommendations for averting the refugee phenomenon and
recommends a variety of counselling, financial and other service interventions to meet
returnees ' needs.
Description
Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.
Keywords
Theses--Social work.