The RLP, a “Centre for Justice and Forced Migrants”

The Refugee Law Project (RLP), Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, was established in 1999 to provide legal aid to asylum seekers and refugees in Uganda. Since then, the provision of legal aid has been supported by adding a psycho-social unit which provides clients with counselling and referrals on a range of non-legal matters, including sexual and gender based violence, access to medical care, housing and education. The provision of direct support is complemented by education and training activities targeted at both duty bearers -such as police, immigration officers, judges, magistrates and local government officials- and forced migrants themselves. Over the last ten years the focus of RLP has broadened, assisting not only refugees and asylum seekers but also other forced migrants, notably Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and deportees. RPL has also found it important to consider the question of transitional justice as it affects forcibly displaced populations.  

All these activities are supported by an active research and advocacy department which seeks to provide the necessary empirical support for any debate about policy and legislation, and to advocate on behalf of forced migrants. The RLP is also engaged in consultancy, carrying out research work for such organisations as the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), the Norwegian Refugee Council Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), or CARE Uganda. More recently, the RLP collaborated with the International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) and the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) for the production of a study on Rwanda refugees in Uganda. On July 3 - 6, 2011, the RLP hosted the 13th Conference of the International Association for Studies in Forced Migration (IASFM) “Governing Migration”. The conference aimed to “explore key dimensions of the relationship between forms and tools of governance on the one hand and patterns and experiences of forced migration on the other”.

Rising voices of Eastern African Migration research

The increasing emphasis on migration research at Makerere University is also evidenced by its participation to the IMMIS “African Migration and Gender in Global Context – Implementing Migration Studies” project, through the Department of Women and Gender Studies. But the example of Makerere University is by no mean isolated. Over recent years, Eastern African research institutions have become increasingly active and visible in the migration research field. Their presence in major international research consortia such as the ACP Migration Observatory and the Migrating Out of Poverty Research Programme Consortium (RPC) illustrates the vitality of the discipline in the region.

Of the 19 members and associate partners of the ACP Migration Observatory, 4 are based in Eastern African: The Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA) in Ethiopia; the Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS), Moi University, in Kenya; the Centre for the Study of Forced Migration (CSFM), University of Dar es Salaam and the Economic and Social Research Foundation (ERSF) in Tanzania. Eastern African migration research is also represented in the recently established Migrating Out of Poverty RPC through the African Migration and Development Policy Centre (AMADPOC), based in Kenya.

Given its predominance in the region, conflict-induced migration has received a great deal of attention from these institutions. Nevertheless, Eastern African researchers are increasingly looking into other forms of forced migration –environmentally-induced for instance. The governance of migration in a regional integration context is another issue attracting interest, with regional organisations in the region currently defining their migration policy framework (IGAD) and pushing their free movement agenda (EAC, COMESA). Through their research and training activities, as well as their increasing engagement with policy-makers through consultancy, regional research institutions are playing an essential role in shaping the future of migration governance in the region.

Clearly, much remains to be done in order to empower African migration research, not least in terms of filling the severe gaps affecting the production of migration-related statistical data. Their reduced availability within Africa still limits the understanding of migration in the region, while perpetuating a form of dependency to externally-produced migration statistics. Nevertheless, African voices are increasingly present in the migration debate, as illustrated by a recent publication of the Network of Migration Research in Africa (NOMRA) providing “a perspective from African scholars” on “International migration within, to and from Africa in a globalised world”. In the coming months, the MME Partnership newsletter will continue to report on African migration research, focusing on recent developments in the various regions of the continent.