Bidi Bidi Refugee settlement in Uganda. Credit | Courtesy

Amnesty International is urging the international community to redouble their efforts in providing funds for South Sudanese refugees in Uganda.

The rights watchdog says Uganda is experiencing large and rapid influx of refugees from South Sudan despite the lack of sufficient funds to enable the government of Uganda, UN agencies, and NGOs to respond to their needs.

In a statement issued last week, the organization says the UN agencies are struggling to support majority of South Sudanese women headed households, and also a large number of unaccompanied or separated children, who are either living with foster families or on their own in a settlement camps.

“Those identified as Persons with Special Needs,PSNs , at reception centres and in the settlements are supposed to be provided with additional support, such as tents to use as shelter when they arrive and support with the construction of their semi-permanent shelters. However, thousands of PSNs who require further assistance are currently not receiving it,” Amnesty International said.

It says there is also large number of refugees over the age of 60 with chronic health conditions, and persons with disabilities.

In March, the government of Uganda said chronic and severe underfunding has reached a point where critical life-saving help risks becoming dangerously compromised.

The government said significant challenges are being faced in providing refugees with adequate food rations, health and educational services, and sufficient clean water; a dire situation further compounded by the onset of heavy rains.

“We continue to welcome our neighbors in their time of need, but we urgently need the international community to assist as the situation is becoming increasingly critical,” Uganda’s Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda said.

In order to meet its “Refugee and Host Populations Empowerment Strategy” program, the Ugandan government requested 350 million US dollars loan from the UN-World Bank Trust Fund to be utilized over five years in ten refugee hosting districts.

The UNHCR and other aid agencies in Uganda also appealed for 960 million US dollars to meet the needs of refugees from South Sudan, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The agencies said the South Sudan Refugee Response requires the largest amount of funds – over 673 million US dollars.

But as of May 2017, the UNHCR said it’s funding for all its refugee operations in Uganda falls short at 18 percent.

“Despite the appeals by Uganda and the UN, donors have consistently failed to respond to the calls for additional support. In 2016, the total amount of funding requested for the Uganda segment of the inter-agency South Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan was USD 193,723,395.77 However, by the end of the year only 51.4% of the funding requirements (or USD 99.6 million) had been met,” the statement reads.

Amnesty International added that such major short falls in funding have meant that humanitarian organizations have had to prioritize immediate needs such as water, sanitation, food, primary healthcare, primary education and materials for building shelters over other needs.

It says Uganda’s share of the regional appeal was only 51.4 percent funded in 2016, meaning basic needs are not being met.

The report calls on donors including the US, the EU and its Member States, Australia, Canada, China, and Japan, to urgently meet financial needs and support for technical assistance required to support Uganda’s progressive refugee policy.

It also calls on parties to the conflict in South Sudan and the international community to cease and prevent all abuses and violations and to support efforts for justice and reparations for victim.

For his part, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi urges the Transitional Government of National Unity and other warring parties to priority peace in order for people to return home.

He said prolonged encampment makes the population dependent on foreign aid.

“The problem is that when you start building camps for people, they become dependent on everything that is given out, and that everything is inevitably limited,” he said.

“The flight of people is a clear testimony that you [South Sudanese leaders] are not taking enough responsibility for your own citizens, because otherwise people wouldn’t go away beyond borders to uncertain exile, if they were not afraid. So this is a strong message to the leadership.”

Amnesty International, in the statement says that in the face of severe under-funding and the fastest-growing refugee emergency in the world, Uganda’s ability to realize a model that allows refugees to thrive now risks being jeopardized.