World

Uganda's unique policy on refugees at risk, despite stable EU funding

Published

2 years ago

March 14, 2024

Uganda's unique policy on refugees at risk, despite stable EU funding

The Eastern African country provides accommodation and a plot of land to people fleeing wars in neighbouring countries, but the gap between needs and resources is increasing.

Damaria Chimpaye’s eyes light up when her children appear in the distance.

At 41, she has given birth nine times, lost her home and husband, and does not know where three of her children are. She is from the Democratic Republic of Congo, but has for almost two years been living in Uganda.

The East African country is home to 1.6 million refugees, the largest number relative to population in Africa, and the third in the world. Its 3.6 per cent ratio is more than double the European Union’s.

These refugees mainly come from neighbouring South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which are marred by violence. Eighty-one per cent of them are women and children, who often fled after their villages were attacked and their husbands and fathers killed.

This is the case for Damaria.

After escaping she lived two years as an internally displaced person in other Congolese villages. Another armed attack prompted her to move eastwards, with a small child in her arms and five others around her, until she reached the border with Uganda.

Now Damaria lives in the Nakivale refugee camp, one of the largest and oldest on the continent: a 185-square-kilometre area housing 185,000 people in southwestern Uganda. She misses her village, and her mother who chose to stay behind but she will never go back there.

The Ugandan exception

Uganda has one of the most unique refugee policies in Africa, and perhaps the world. It lets in virtually everyone, granting immediate protection to those from war-torn regions under a system known as prima facie.

“They are recognised as refugees at access points along the borders and then transferred to settlements such as the one in Nakivale,” Claire Birungi Agaba of the Norwegian Refugee Council, one of the organisations involved in welcoming refugees, told Euronews last week during a trip to the country.

Its policy is considered very progressive, despite the country’s poor results in democracy indicators: it scores 4.55 out of 10 in the latest Democracy Index compiled by Our World in Data and only 13 out of 100 when it comes to respect of minorities, according to the last LGBT Equality Index.

To maintain this policy, the Ugandan government – which spends 40% of its annual budget repaying interest on its debt – relies on humanitarian aid from international partners, who provide material support and finance infrastructure in the country’s 14 refugee settlements.

The many humanitarian organisations – financed mainly by the EU, US and UN – replace the national authorities in providing food, education and medical care. Schools and hospitals, built in the remote rural areas where the settlements are located, are then also used by the local population.

In the settlements, the neediest receive a house, others a small sum to buy the materials needed to build it. Each refugee is entitled to a small plot of land to cultivate and to support in money and food, which, however, depends on the funds available: in 2020, 100% of the food needs were covered, the UNHCR said, this is no longer the case.

For example, people in Nakivale are divided into three categories. The most vulnerable receive 24,000 Ugandan shillings a month (€5.6), the least vulnerable 12,000, and those considered able to manage without, get nothing.

Every six months, needs are reassessed: most try to fit into the first category, for example, by presenting themselves as single parents instead of as families.

Hunger in refugee camps

As an alternative to cash support, there is food support: three kilos of rice and half a kilo of beans per person per month. But that is barely enough for a fortnight, Damaria told Euronews. The small plot of land she cultivates gives her two harvests of about 10 kilos of beans each per year.

It is impossible to feed an extended family: in addition to her six biological children, there are two others under her roof, aged 17 and 18, whom Damaria has agreed to raise as part of a voluntary fostering project in the Nakivale camp.

To put lunch and dinner together, she and her two eldest daughters work a day job in other fields. The little food the family eats is always half-cooked: the maize leaves used to make the cooking fire burn too quickly.

The malnutrition rate in Nakivale is 2.6 per cent, a threshold described as ”acceptable” by Justin Okello of the Nakivale Health Centre III, the main clinic in the area.

But at times the level rises dangerously, especially among children below five. “The result is that these children are much more likely to get infections and die from these infections, which in their sufficiently nourished peers would be easily treatable, sometimes without even using medicine,” Okello added.

Growth in those who survive is nevertheless impacted. The rate of stunted growth in children is 40 per cent: that is, four out of ten children are shorter and weigh less than they should for their age, with consequences for their physical and mental development.

“The first thousand days of a child’s life are a crucial time. Anything that goes wrong during this time risks having lifelong consequences: an ill-treated child can easily become a boy who is unable to finish school and get a job”.

In Nakivale, a special programme called ‘Nutricash’ allocates 48,000 shillings per month (€11) to women who are pregnant or have children under two precisely to combat child malnutrition. But as Dr Okello explained, this money is used by the mothers to feed the whole family, thus losing its purpose.

Besides hunger, disease, school drop-outs and lack of prospects are the plagues that afflict minors, who account for 57% of the total number of refugees, according to national statistics.

A model at risk

The numerical growth of refugee settlements is challenging the resilience of the Ugandan model. Eight out of fourteen exceed 100,000 inhabitants. In Nakivale, for example, there are new arrivals every week.

In the last two years alone, 225,000 refugees have arrived in Uganda. The last migration crisis coincided with the civil war that broke out in Sudan in 2023 and more than a quarter of the refugees registered in 2024 came from this country.

Then there is the high birth rate in the refugee camps, which contributes to making them more and more crowded: in Nakivale 400 children are born every week.

Against a backdrop of growing needs, humanitarian aid is decreasing.

“In 2018, around $170 (€155) per year was spent on each refugee, today, only $85 (€77),” says Bruno Rotival, Head of Uganda at ECHO, the European Commission’s humanitarian aid department.

The EU allocated €27.5 million for 2024, down slightly from €30.5 million the previous year. “All operations around the world suffer from a funding gap. More acute crises situations receive more funds, while Uganda, being a more stabilised country, perhaps suffers a little more in the provision of humanitarian aid.”

Uganda, Rotival said, was identified by the EU as a country in which to begin the transition from a system based on humanitarian aid to one based on development cooperation.

The war in Ukraine has complicated plans, with a 20% cut in the EU’s overall humanitarian budget.

“But we are confident that we will be able to maintain all our support,” Rotival added.

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World

Trump says he is directing federal agencies to cease use of Anthropic technology

Published

8 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Trump says he is directing federal agencies to cease use of Anthropic technology

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he was directing every federal agency to immediately cease all use of Anthropic’s technology, adding there would be a six-month phase out for agencies such as the Defense Department who use the company’s products.

World

UN Human Rights Council chief cuts off speaker criticizing US-sanctioned official

Published

9 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

UN Human Rights Council chief cuts off speaker criticizing US-sanctioned official

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) abruptly cut off a video statement after the speaker began criticizing several United Nations officials, including one who has been sanctioned by the Trump administration. The video message was being played during a U.N. session in Geneva, Switzerland, Friday morning.

Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the and president of Human Rights, called out several U.N. officials in her message, including U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk and special rapporteur Francesca Albanese, who is the subject of U.S. sanctions.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions against Albanese July 9, 2025, saying that she “has spewed unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism and open contempt for the United States, Israel and the West.”

“That bias has been apparent across the span of her career, including recommending that the ICC, without a legitimate basis, issue arrest warrants targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant,” Rubio added.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Francesca Albanese (Getty Images)

“I was the only American U.N.-accredited NGO with a speaking slot, and I wasn’t allowed even to conclude my 90 seconds of allotted time. Free speech is non-existent at the U.N. so-called ‘Human Rights Council,’” Bayefsky told Fox News Digital.

Bayefsky noted the irony of the council cutting off her video in a proceeding that was said to be an “interactive dialogue,” an event during which experts are allowed to speak to the council about human rights issues.

“I was cut off after naming Francesca Albanese, Navi Pillay and Chris Sidoti for covering up Palestinian use of rape as a weapon of war and trafficking in blatant antisemitism. I named the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, who is facing disturbing sexual assault allegations but still unaccountable almost two years later. Those are the people and the facts that the United Nations wants to protect and hide,” Bayefsky told Fox News Digital.

“It is an outrage that I am silenced and singled out for criticism on the basis of naming names.”

Bayefsky’s statement was cut off as she accused Albanese and Navi Pillay, the former chair of the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory; and Chris Sidoti, a commissioner of the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory. She also slammed Khan, who has faced rape allegations. Khan has denied the sexual misconduct allegations against him.

Had her video message been played in full, Bayefsky would have gone on to criticize Türk’s recent report for not demanding accountability for the “Palestinian policy to pay to kill Jews, including Hamas terror boss Yahya Sinwar who got half a million dollars in blood money.”

When the video was cut short, Human Rights Council President Ambassador Sidharto Reza Suryodipuro characterized Bayefsky’s remarks as “derogatory, insulting and inflammatory” and said that they were “not acceptable.”

“The language used by the speaker cannot be allowed as it has exceeded the limits of tolerance and respect within the framework of the council which we all in this room hold to,” Suryodipuro said.

The Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Feb. 26, 2025. (Denis Balibouse/Reuters)

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In response to Fox News Digital’s request for comment, Human Rights Council Media Officer Pascal Sim said the council has had long-established rules on what it considers to be acceptable language.

“Rulings regarding the form and language of interventions in the Human Rights Council are established practices that have been in place throughout the existence of the council and used by all council presidents when it comes to ensuring respect, tolerance and dignity inherent to the discussion of human rights issues,” Sim told Fox News Digital.

When asked if the video had been reviewed ahead of time, Sim said it was assessed for length and audio quality to allow for interpretation, but that the speakers are ultimately “responsible for the content of their statement.”

“The video statement by the NGO ‘Touro Law Center, The Institute on Human Rights and The Holocaust’ was interrupted when it was deemed that the language exceeded the limits of tolerance and respect within the framework of the council and could not be tolerated,” Sim said.

“As the presiding officer explained at the time, all speakers are to remain within the appropriate framework and terminology used in the council’s work, which is well known by speakers who routinely participate in council proceedings. Following that ruling, none of the member states of the council have objected to it.”

Flag alley at the United Nations’ European headquarters during the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, Sept. 11, 2023. (Denis Balibouse/File Photo/Reuters)

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While Bayefsky’s statement was cut off, other statements accusing Israel of genocide and ethnic cleansing were allowed to be played and read in full.

This is not the first time that Bayefsky was interrupted. Exactly one year ago, on Feb. 27, 2025, her video was cut off when she mentioned the fate of Ariel and Kfir Bibas. Jürg Lauber, president of the U.N. Human Rights Council at the time, stopped the video and declared that Bayefsky had used inappropriate language.

Bayefsky began the speech by saying, “The world now knows Palestinian savages murdered 9-month-old baby Kfir,” and she ws almost immediately cut off by Lauber.

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“Sorry, I have to interrupt,” Lauber abruptly said as the video of Bayefsky was paused. Lauber briefly objected to the “language” used in the video, but then allowed it to continue. After a few more seconds, the video was shut off entirely.

Lauber reiterated that “the language that’s used by the speaker cannot be tolerated,” adding that it “exceeds clearly the limits of tolerance and respect.”

Last year, when the previous incident occurred, Bayefsky said she believed the whole thing was “stage-managed,” as the council had advanced access to her video and a transcript and knew what she would say.

Rachel Wolf is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and FOX Business.

World

Did the EU bypass Hungary’s veto on Ukraine’s €90 billion loan?

Published

10 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Did the EU bypass Hungary’s veto on Ukraine’s €90 billion loan?

A post on X by European Parliament President Roberta Metsola has triggered a wave of misinformation linked to the EU’s €90 billion support loan to Ukraine, which is designed to help Kyiv meet its general budget and defence needs amid Russia’s ongoing invasion.

Hungary said earlier this week that it would block both the loan — agreed by EU leaders in December — and a new EU sanctions package against Moscow amid a dispute over oil supplies.

Shortly afterwards, Metsola posted on X that she had signed the Ukraine support loan on behalf of the parliament.

She said the funds would be used to maintain essential public services, support Ukraine’s defence, protect shared European security, and anchor Ukraine’s future within Europe.

The announcement triggered a wave of reactions online, with some claiming Hungary’s veto had been ignored, but this is incorrect.

Metsola did sign the loan on behalf of the European Parliament, but that’s only one step in the EU’s legislative process. Her signature does not mean the loan has been definitively implemented.

How the process works

In December, after failing to reach an agreement on using frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s war effort, the European Council agreed in principle to provide €90 billion to help Kyiv meet its budgetary and military needs over the next two years.

On 14 January, the European Commission put forward a package of legislative proposals to ensure continued financial support for Ukraine in 2026 and 2027.

These included a proposal to establish a €90 billion Ukraine support loan, amendments to the Ukraine Facility — the EU instrument used to deliver budgetary assistance — and changes to the EU’s multiannual financial framework so the loan could be backed by any unused budgetary “headroom”.

Under EU law, these proposals must be adopted by both the European Parliament and the European Council. Because the loan requires amendments to EU budgetary rules, it ultimately needs unanimous approval from all member states.

Metsola’s signature therefore does not amount to a final decision, nor does it override Hungary’s veto.

The oil dispute behind Hungary’s opposition

Budapest says its objections are linked to a dispute over the Druzhba pipeline, a Soviet-era route that carries Russian oil via Ukraine to Hungary and Slovakia.

According to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), Hungary and Slovakia imported an estimated €137 million worth of Russian crude through the pipeline in January alone, under a temporary EU exemption.

Oil flows reportedly stopped in late January after a Russian air strike that Kyiv says damaged the pipeline’s southern branch in western Ukraine. Hungary disputes this, with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán accusing Ukraine of blocking it from being used.

Speaking in Kyiv alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the pipeline had been damaged by Russia, not Kyiv.

He added that repairs were dangerous and could not be carried out quickly without putting Ukrainian servicemen in danger.

Tensions escalated further after reports that Ukraine struck a Russian pumping station serving the pipeline. Orbán responded by ordering increased security at critical infrastructure sites, claiming Kyiv was attempting to disrupt Hungary’s energy system.