Safe, Sustainable Return for Rwandese Refugees in the Great Lakes

Ten principles

1. Repatriation should only take place under safe, voluntary and sustainable conditions. Such repatriations can contribute to enhancing the stability and long term peace prospects of the Great Lakes region.
   
2. A decision by a refugee to return home to Rwanda must be fully voluntary: neither deliberate action (via forced round-ups, threats and deportation) nor indirect pressure (through the denial of social and economic rights) can be permitted under international refugee law and principles.
   
3. Rwandese refugees have a right of access to objective and accurate information about conditions at home prior to making an informed decision to return: credible local and inter-governmental human rights organizations have a role to play in the provision of information, in addition to the government authorities.
   
4. A general declaration of cessation of refugee status for Rwandese refugees is not appropriate at this time: in the future, any decision to apply the cessation clauses for Rwandan refugees must be accompanied by the creation of a fair and satisfactory procedure by which individual refugees who fear return may assert their need for continued protection, in accordance with international human rights and refugee law and standards.
   
5. UNHCR, working with UN human rights bodies and non-governmental organizations, must be supported to establish a comprehensive and regular returnee monitoring presence in Rwanda
   
6. Support from the international community must be forthcoming for programs of reintegration and reconstruction in Rwanda which take into account the specific needs of returnees.
   
7. Efforts by Rwanda to ensure that the operation of the Rwandese criminal justice system is fair and efficient must be supported, particularly in order to ensure that human rights abuses, including gender-based violence, do not take place with impunity and that abuses are not suffered by returnees who may be disproportionately vulnerable.
   
8. Mechanisms for the resolution of disputes relating to land, property and inheritance must be accessible and effective.
   
9. In countries of asylum measures must be taken to ensure that individuals’ right to seek asylum and obtain international protection from serious human rights abuses is respected, and that those who have committed serious crimes, or who intend to or are engaged in military activity are promptly identified, separated out from the refugee population and in specific cases excluded from refugee protection in accordance with the provisions of the 1951 Refugee Convention.
   
10. Not all Rwandese refugees will be able to return home in safety: provision must be made for the local integration in the countries of asylum or for resettlement of those refugees who cannot go home. The international community must continue to provide adequate support for those countries which host Rwandese refugees on the basis of the principle of responsibility sharing .