Kigali to crackdown on refugees with national identification
Published: 26/Mar/2016
Source: The East African
By Daniel S. Ntwari
In Summary
- A report by the Rwandan parliament on refugees status 2014/15 shows that some Congolese refugees illegally acquired Rwandan IDs and some of them still hold on to their Congolese national IDs which they use to benefit from government services and even travel back and forth respectively.
Rwanda is planning a major crackdown on Congolese nationals, who have illegally acquired Rwandan national identification, an act that jeopardises their privilege as refugees.
Under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) guidelines, refugees are supposed to get registered and acquire a refugee identity card that offers them refugee status in order to get full benefits which include shelter, food and protection, as “stateless persons” in need.
The Minister of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs (Midimar), Seraphine Mukantabana, recently told parliament that the ministry has asked the refugees to hand in the Rwandan identification, but none has done so claiming to have lost them.
Read further at The East African.