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STORY: UNHCR / UGANDA REFUGEES
TRT: 05:23
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNHCR ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 29 JULY 2025 KIRYANDONGO, UGANDA
1. Various shots, Sudanese refugees at transit centre
2. Med shot, UNHCR staff looking through documents with refugees standing nearby
3. Wide shot, Dominique Hyde, UNHCR’s Director of External Relations meeting with refugee family
4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic)Hamida Ibrahim Amin, Newly Arrived Sudanese Refugee:
“We used to live in Khartoum, but we moved to Darfur, because of the war. I’m with my daughters, my husband passed away. We have been here for three months. We have nothing, no money, the children are not in school, and they started getting sick. The situation here is really difficult.”
5. Close up, Hyde’s face
6. Med shot, Hyde talking to Hamida Ibrahim Amin
7. Close up, Hamida’s daughter looking on
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Dominique Hyde, Director of External Relations, UNHCR:
“I’m in Kiryandongo in Uganda, where we have seen an increase of arrivals in the past month. The situation has become untenable, we simply don't have the resources for the basic needs whether its water whether its shelter I'm seeing children that are malnourished, I'm seeing women that are desperate, having arrived here with almost nothing.”
9. Various shots, refugees at the transit centre
10. Various shots, refugees at registration desk
11. Various shots, woman looking on
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Dominique Hyde, Director of External Relations, UNHCR:
“The emergency needs are massive, and we are simply not able to meet them. Whether its water whether its shelter whether its food, where its only 25 percent funded and it's not just about UNHCR, it's about the World Food program, it’s about the other UN agencies it's about the government of Uganda and their generosity towards this population offering safety, offering a home, but without funding we are simply not able to help.”
13. Aerial shot, view of school
14. Various shots, crowed students in class
15. Wide shot, Baako Sarah Taban, South Sudanese refugee and Teacher, at Arnold primary school
16. Med shot, students in class
17. Various shots, Hyde meeting students
18. Various shots, students
19. Various shots, student writing in book
20. SOUNDBITE (English) Bakos Sarah Taban, South Sudanese Refugee and Teacher, Arnold Primary School:
“Even the class is too full, to the extent you the teachers, you cannot really supervise the learners very well because as a teacher you are teaching, you need to move between the children to check whether they are very attentive but this one has not been easy because of the congestion in the class and when it comes time for exam all of them come and you find they sit even outside on the verandas to write their exams so congestion in class is really an issue.”
21. Various shots, Hyde in meeting with unaccompanied minors
22. SOUNDBITE (English) Abdalla Eis Mohamed, Sudanese Refugee and Teacher, Arnold Primary School:
“They came without families, they have no money as they said, they have no relatives with them. They are still very young, they are unlike me I'm an old man I can do my things, but for them they need to be guided by someone. So, I pity them, it is sorrowful, but still I say, God will help them. As God is helping you and helping all of us. Especially when someone tells you that I want to follow my education. Let us help them to be able to get it, maybe in the future they also help our children. Your children, my children they help the world, yeah you don't know tomorrow what is going to happen.”
23. Wide shot, students in school compound
More refugees seek safety in Africa’s largest refugee-hosting country, Uganda, as funding cuts hamper humanitarian support in one of the worst funding crises in decades.
Uganda is on the verge of hosting 2 million refugees as escalating crises in Sudan, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) drive hundreds of people to cross the border daily in search of safety and lifesaving aid.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic)Hamida Ibrahim Amin, Newly Arrived Sudanese Refugee:
“We used to live in Khartoum, but we moved to Darfur, because of the war. I’m with my daughters, my husband passed away. We have been here for three months. We have nothing, no money, the children are not in school, and they started getting sick. The situation here is really difficult.”
Since the start of 2025, an average of 600 people per day have arrived in the country, with numbers expected to reach 2 million by year’s end. Already Africa’s largest refugee-hosting country and the third largest globally, Uganda is currently home to 1.93 million refugees, over a million of whom are below the age of 18. Yet, the humanitarian response currently faces one of the worst funding crises in decades, says UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.
Dominique Hyde, Director for External Relations, UNHCR, recently visited refugee settlements hosting Sudanese and South Sudanese in Uganda and warned that more children will die of malnutrition, more girls will fall victim to sexual violence, and families will be left without shelter or protection unless the world steps up, as emergency funding runs out in September.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dominique Hyde, Director of External Relations, UNHCR:
“I’m in Kiryandongo in Uganda, where we have seen an increase of arrivals in the past month. The situation has become untenable, we simply don't have the resources for the basic needs whether its water whether its shelter I'm seeing children that are malnourished, I'm seeing women that are desperate, having arrived here with almost nothing.”
Uganda’s progressive refugee policy allows refugees to live, work, and access public services, but funding shortfalls are drastically impacting aid delivery and threaten to undo years of progress. Currently, refugees are only receiving a third of what they require to meet their basic needs annually.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dominique Hyde, Director of External Relations, UNHCR:
“The emergency needs are massive, and we are simply not able to meet them. Whether its water whether its shelter whether its food, where its only 25 percent funded and it's not just about UNHCR, it's about the World Food program, it’s about the other UN agencies it's about the government of Uganda and their generosity towards this population offering safety, offering a home, but without funding we are simply not able to help.”
Food and medicine have drastically reduced, dangerously soaring malnutrition particularly among children.
As resources continue to be stretched, refugees are being forced to make life-altering choices to survive including dropping out of school. Reports of gender-based violence are on the rise as well as an increasing risk of suicide among refugee youth, amid a decline of mental healthcare staff.
SOUNDBITE (English) Bakos Sarah Taban, South Sudanese Refugee and Teacher, Arnold Primary School:
“Even the class is too full, to the extent you the teachers, you cannot really supervise the learners very well because as a teacher you are teaching, you need to move between the children to check whether they are very attentive but this one has not been easy because of the congestion in the class and when it comes time for exam all of them come and you find they sit even outside on the verandas to write their exams so congestion in class is really an issue.”
By the end of July, UNHCR only had resources to support less than 18,000 individuals with cash and
essential relief items, enough to cover just two months of new arrivals at the current pace.
SOUNDBITE (English) Abdalla Eis Mohamed, Sudanese Refugee and Teacher, Arnold Primary School:
“They came without families, they have no money as they said, they have no relatives with them. They are still very young, they are unlike me I'm an old man I can do my things, but for them they need to be guided by someone. So, I pity them, it is sorrowful, but still I say, God will help them. As God is helping you and helping all of us. Especially when someone tells you that I want to follow my education. Let us help them to be able to get it, maybe in the future they also help our children. Your children, my children they help the world, yeah you don't know tomorrow what is going to happen.”
UNHCR is calling for more urgent and sustained international support and solidarity, including from
development actors, to ensure refugees and their local communities can live safe and more dignified
lives.
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