Has the CRRF helped host countries to adequately address the needs of refugees? A case study on Uganda and Kenya

Abstract

The prevalence of war, famine and political instability on the African continent has resulted in large scale migration into neighbouring countries. The long-lasting effects of these conditions have resulted in protracted refugee situations and host countries have reached the stage of being overburdened by hosting refugees. The New York Declaration on Refugees and Migrants (2016) seeks to address this challenge by encouraging host states to integrate refugees into their national development goals through the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF). By so doing, host countries stand to conjointly address the needs of refugees while also addressing the needs of the host community. This is made possible through co-joined efforts of the international community in supporting host countries with funding. Additionally, through this process, the vision of the CRRF is that refugees will eventually become self-reliant through the opportunities provided by the host countries. This paper investigates whether the CRRF has managed to assist host countries to adequately address the needs of refugees. Having used Uganda and Kenya as the main case studies, the results suggest that the CRRF has partially addressed the needs of refugees. The identified shortfall being that there is inadequate funding, as such, the impact of the CRRF is seen only in a select few situations. The main purpose of this study is to encourage policy development. Future research should consider looking into the reasons behind the lack of international commitment. This will be helpful towards finding means to address the root causes for policy developers.