UNHCR: Biometric verification of refugees in Uganda set for March 1

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT & AFP | UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, together with partners in government and NGOs will on March 1 launch a verification exercise targeting all refugees in Uganda.

The intervention by UNHCR in Uganda comes weeks after allegations emerged that Ugandan officials are inflating refugee figures in order to attract more aid which is then siphoned off by corrupt officers.

“The biometric verification will strengthen the integrity of the data underpinning the refugee operation, and will allay any concerns that refugee numbers are inflated,” said UNHCR’s Senior Regional Spokesperson Teresa Ongaro, reading from a press statement in Kampala on February 20, 2018.

She said the government of Uganda has the full responsibility to register all refugees arriving in the country. “To assist in this process, UNHCR is urgently making available its globally tried and tested tools and systems to verify the refugee population.”

The UNHCR also refuted media reports that the agency’s country representative has been removed from his post over the growing refugee scandal in the country.

“We wish to underscore categorically that there is no suggestion whatsoever that the UNHCR Representative in Uganda, Mr. Bornwell Kantande, has engaged in any fraud or corruption, and that any reassignment has nothing to do with any allegation of wrongdoing,” UNHCR said in a statement.

For several weeks, the Ugandan government and their partner agencies, including UNHCR, have been investigating allegations of inflation of refugee numbers, mismanagement of donor funds meant for refugees, along with other serious allegations of corruption. Uganda hosts more refugee than any other African country.

UNHCR’s Ongaro said the UN Refugee Agency is taking very seriously recent developments in Uganda and especially that the important work of supporting refugees and the communities that host them, could be seriously compromised.

“Unsubstantiated reports in various media have threatened to tarnish the reputation of Uganda, which is currently Africa’s largest refugee hosting state, and has one of the most progressive policies worldwide for people fleeing conflict and persecution,” Ongaro said.

“From the outset, we wish to address the incorrect media reports and narratives which are depicting the malaise as one by UN and UNHCR staff and, in particular, the UNHCR Representative, based on the fact that he is being reassigned.”

Meanwhile, in accordance with standard practice, Ongaro said UNHCR’s independent Inspector General’s Office is pursuing internal investigations on some serious allegations received at the end of 2017, including fuel embezzlement, allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse, irregular tendering of water trucking, and fraud in food distribution.

“Internally, UNHCR is strengthening its monitoring and oversight capacity in order to identify and address weak points that may exist that could facilitate fraud, including the deployment of more senior staff to help put in place additional safeguards.”

Uganda has been widely praised for its progressive refugee policy. Ugandan officials claim to house 1.4 million refugees, a million of whom have fled the ongoing civil war in South Sudan.

Although among the world’s poorest countries, Uganda has welcomed refugees, giving them land and the opportunity to work, in stark contrast to many richer nations.

Only last month , UN refugees chief Filippo Grandi hailed Uganda for having, “one of the most progressive policies for refugees, not only in Africa but also in the world”.

But diplomatic sources told AFP that one large Western donor has already suspended aid because of the graft allegations, and others are threatening to follow suit.

The donors are demanding the implementation of a UN-controlled biometric system of refugee identification.

The European Union said last week it has referred the allegations to its own anti-fraud office.

– ‘Girls and women sold’ –

An internal Ugandan government document, dated 29 January and circulated by the prime minister’s office and seen by AFP, also raises corruption allegations including that Ugandan officials extort money from newly-arrived refugees, insisting on payment before providing the free registration service that allows access to aid.

The UN’s top official in Uganda, Rosa Malango, said the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and World Food Programme (WFP) were undertaking internal audits of their Uganda operations over the claims.

The Ugandan investigation follows Malango writing to the prime minister on January 26 raising allegations ranging from “corruption to fraud, from trafficking of women and girls to intimidation and harassment of UN personnel”.

“The moment anybody raises anything that looks or smells like sexual exploitation or abuse I must demand for an immediate investigation, and I must demand for immediate action because we have zero tolerance,” she told AFP, adding Ugandan authorities have promised to investigate these claims too.

So far, Uganda has not publicly addressed the sex trafficking allegations, although they do feature in the government’s internal memo of January 29.

“Trafficking of minor girls and women is high on the radar,” it said.

The specific allegations, said a diplomat familiar with the charges, are that South Sudanese girls and women are being trafficked from the refugee camps of northern Uganda back across the border.

There, they are sold as “wives” to combatants with the possible knowledge or complicity of Ugandan officials, the diplomat said.