Uganda Pro Bono Directory

Click here  to see the numbers and origins of refugees hosted by Uganda.

For Uganda country of information (COI) experts, reports, commentaries and relevant documents, please click here.

As UNHCR statistics generally rely on data from host countries, statistics on refugees alone can give an insufficient account of refugee numbers, as some host countries will not grant refugee status to certain groups. Including statistics for individuals in refugee-like situations is an attempt to account for unrecognised refugees and does not include internally displaced persons. Statistics for stateless refugees are included if available.

Disaster Preparedness, Management & Refugees

Office of the Prime Minister Uganda
Postel Building, Yusuf Lule Road; P.O. Box 341 Kampala
Tel:+256 41 42 54 252
Fax: +256 41 43 41 139

Contact Persons: Senior Protection Officer, asiimwedw@yahoo.com ; Commissioner, dakazungu@yahoo.com

This is the lead agency responsible for disaster preparedness and management in Uganda. It coordinates risk reduction, prevention, preparedness, mitigation and response actions in the country in consultation with other line ministries, humanitarian and development partners, Local Governments and the Private sector.

Legal Aid Organisations

The Refugee Law Project (RLP)

www.refugeelawproject.org
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Faculty of Law, Makerere University, Plot 9, Perryman Gardens, Old Kampala, PO Box 33903 Kampala
Tel: +256 (0)4 14 34 35 56

Email: info@refugeelawproject.org

The Refugee Law Project (RLP), an outreach project of the School of Law at Makerere University, Uganda, provides pro bono legal aid, counselling and psycho-social services, education and training to asylum seekers, refugees, deportees and internally displaced people in Uganda. The psycho-social services offered by the RLP include counselling and referrals on a range of non-legal matters, including sexual and gender-based violence, access to medical care, housing and education. RLP also offers English language training in order that refugees and asylum seekers can advocate for their rights on their own behalf. These services are offered by qualified lawyers, para-legal and psychosocial staff, both Ugandan and international.

Uganda Law Society

https://www.uls.or.ug/
Tel: +256 41 43 42 424
Email: uls@ulsor.ug

Running a pro bono scheme to undertake legal aid work for vulnerable or under privileged persons.

INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

War Child International

Website (international): www.warchild.org

Address in the UK: Linton House, 39-51 Highgate Road, London, NW5 1RT
Tel: +44(0)207 916 9276
General enquiries email:  info@warchild.org.uk
Programmes enquiries email: africa.progammes@warchild.org.uk
Address in Canada: 489 College St. Suite 500, Toronto, Ontario, M6G 1A5
Tel: +18 66 92 72 445
Email:  info@warchild.ca
Address in the Netherlands: Helmholtzstraat 61-G , 1098 LE Amsterdam
Tel: +31 20 42 27 777
Email: info@warchild.nl
Address of War Child Holland in Uganda: Market Street Plot 8 -10, Lira, P.O.Box 1033, Lira
Email: kampala.office@warchild.nl

War Child International is a charity organization represented by offices in the UK, Canada and the Netherlands that works with children all over the world to reduce the effects of poverty, provide an education and to defend and promote child rights. War Child in the UK implements two major projects in Uganda on access of children to education – School access in Alcholi and Protecting and Educating children in Karamoja. The office also works on the issue of the Lord’s resistance army. War Child Canada is currently working to increase access to quality education for South Sudanese refugee and host community children in Northern Uganda. War Child Canada has been working to address the lack of legal protection for women and children survivors of SGBV and to curb the prevalence of perpetrators’ impunity since 2007. Services include: legal counseling/advice or referrals, in person or through a toll-free legal hotline; alternate dispute resolution (mediation); and court representation in civil or criminal cases. War Child Canada is also working with South Sudanese refugees and host communities in Adjumani, Arua, Kiryandongo and Koboko to provide an emergency protection program which includes the provision of legal aid, referrals to life saving services and reducing the risk of SGBV.

Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI)

www.fhri.or.ug
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Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI), Human Rights House, Plot 1853, Lulume Road Nsambya; P.O. Box 11027, Kampala
Tel: +256 414 51 02 63 or 51 04 98 or 51 02 76 or 03 12-26 60 25
Fax: +256 414 51 04 98
Mobile: +256 07 52 79 19 63
Email: fhri@spacenet.co.ug or fhri@starcom.co.ug or fhri@dmail.ug

FHRI through the Legal Services Division offers initial legal advice and assistance as well as making referrals to other Legal Aid Service providers with expertise to handle refugee issues and follow them up to their successful conclusion.

International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI)

www.refugee-rights.org
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International Refugee Rights Initiative
Plot 83, Katalima Road, Naguru, P.O. Box 7785, Kampala, Uganda
Tel: +256 41 43 40 274
Fax: +256 41 43 40 275
Email: info@refugee-rights.org

The IRRI is primarily an advocacy organisation, with a dual office in New York, and does not undertake legal aid services for refugees. Since its inception in 2004, the IRRI has been dedicated to addressing human rights in conflict and displacement in Africa. They ground their advocacy in the rights accorded in regional and international human rights instruments and strive to make these guarantees effective at the local level. IRRI aims to contribute to the improvement and creation of models of law and practice which best guarantee human rights in conflict and displacement. They engage in legal and field-based research in order to better understand how policy affects conflict affected communities and bring these findings to the attention of policy makers in national, regional and international debates. Their dual bases in Kampala and New York uniquely position IRRI to act as a bridge between these local advocates and the international community, enabling local knowledge to infuse international developments and helping local advocates integrate the implications of regional and international policy in their work at home.

Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), Uganda

www.jrsea.org
JRS Uganda, Old Gaba Road, behind US Embassy, P.O. Box 7410, Kampala, Uganda
Tel: +254 41 42 66 264
Email: easternafrica@jrs.net

Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) is an international Catholic organisation with a mission to accompany, serve and advocate on behalf of refugees and other forcibly displaced persons. JRS provides education, psychosocial support, pastoral care, peace-education, livelihoods services and emergency relief and is involved in human rights protection and advocacy activities on different levels. Within Uganda, JRS works in Kampala and Kitgum. In Kampala, JRS assists new arrivals, asylum seekers and most vulnerable refugees by providing information, food and non-food items, rent payment, medical assistance, transport and psychosocial support. JRS also offers English language lessons and skills training. In Kitgum, JRS helps formerly internally displaced persons (IDPs) strengthen their capacities to rebuild their lives by providing agricultural and literacy training, psychosocial support and peace education.

Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Uganda

www.nrc.no/countries/africa/uganda
4 Jivhan Road; P.O.Box 780, GULU, Uganda
Tel: +256 77 27 11 803
Email:  lamin.manjang@nrc.no

Contact Person: Lamin Manjang, Country Director

NRC provides humanitarian assistance to refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and returnees. Their programme activities are concentrated on five core activities, one being Information, Counseling and Legal Assistance. NRC provides legal assistance, usually through individual casework, but it may also entail class action. NRC pursues legal action through all relevant local, national and international legal systems and mechanisms, including customary law, conflict resolution and mediation mechanisms and any other prevalent systems of law – in addition to statutory law and the courts. NRC may provide training in legal issues to target groups and key local actors – to establish a platform of understanding of rights and applicable law, and subsequent legal approaches to key issues.

Justice Defenders

www.justice-defenders.org
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Africa office (Uganda): PO Box 50046, Luzira, Kampala
Tel: +256 75 13 84 205
Email: info@justice-defenders.org
Contact Person: Victor Wildeman

Founded in 2007 as African Prisons Project, Justice Defenders is a registered UK charity and U.S. nonprofit with nearly 350 people working across East Africa. The organisation works to facilitate a just legal process – through legal education, training, and practice. Justice Defenders is working towards a posture of radical inclusion to ensure the defenceless become the defenders. Their model intentionally includes those who would consider themselves – or may be considered by others – to be marginalised or in conflict with the law. Some defenders were previously attackers. This means training individuals in unlikely places. Justice Defenders live in prisons and palaces; they come from death row and Davos. And if these defenders can be unleashed within the justice system, they can serve the community and strengthen the system, helping ensure a fair hearing for all. The organisation trains paralegals and lawyers within defenceless communities to provide legal services for themselves and others. They have partnered with world-class academic institutions, such as the University of London, to tutor and facilitate law degrees for prison communities. Justice Defenders equips prisoners and prison staff to become auxiliary paralegals. And offering prison officials secondment opportunities in the UK. They establish law practices within prisons, providing free services, and running legal awareness clinics for those without access to Justice.

OTHER ORGANISATIONS IN UGANDA

CIYOTA Coburwas International Youth Organisation to Transform Africa

www.coburwas.org/
Address: P.O.BOX 37403 Kampala- Uganda
Tel: +25 63 92 89 7073
Email: executive@coburwas.org

CIYOTA is Non Governmental organization that is  enhancing education for children and women in Uganda with the aim of promoting community development and transformation, through education, leadership, entrepreneurship and active nonviolence.  They do this by providing means of transportation to children who live in remote rural areas, and by offering scholarships for underprivileged students in order to get access to high-quality education at primary, secondary and tertiary level. The organization’s objective is to have a united community in which everyone’s skills and abilities are developed to the best level possible in order to empower communities and shift their mindset from one of revenge and violence to one of non-violence and cooperation. They set up training programs for one million youth in socially responsible leadership to promote Pan African cooperation, non-violence and entrepreneurship. All projects and trainings planned and implemented by CIYOTA follow a community-driven “bottom-up” logic.  At the moment, their headquarter is in  Kampala, but their are aiming to expand their operations to numerous communities throughout Western Uganda and the Eastern DRC. The organization also serves children, that have become orphans or refugee as a consequence of armed conflict. These children fallen out of every family structure are provided with homes, education, positive encouragement and other necessities that help them grow and become positive change makers in their communities.

Young African Refugees for Integral Development (YARID)

www.yarid.org
Address: PO Box: 71360 KAMPALA, Uganda
Tel: (+256) 200912345
E-mail: info@yarid.org or yariduganda@gmail.com

Young African Refugees for Integral Development (YARID) is a refugee-led non-profit organization in Kampala, Uganda. The mission of YARID is to empower refugees, asylum seekers and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to overcome the burdens of deprivation and vulnerability to become healthy, educated, self-sustaining and contributing members of society.

At the moment, there are five main projects, all selected and developed by the community, which support refugees in learning skills to create livelihoods as well as create spaces to form community networks in Kampala:

• Women’s Empowerment Programme, which provides vocational and business education to women
• Education Programme, which offers English classes from non-literate to advanced levels to help integrate refugees into Ugandan society. The “Bridge to Formal Schooling” (BFS) project supports primary school children to access formal education by supporting their families to become more self-sufficient. Currently, BFS is being implemented in Kampala and Kyaka II Refugee Settlement.
• Sports for Development, which offers soccer coaching for young people, and emphasizes conflict resolution.
• Community Hub, which offers classes in computer operating systems, Microsoft Office, mobile technology, and social media (Twitter & Facebook). The Hub is a space where the community can come together, use the internet and attend events. It also runs training courses in business skills and has also facilitated groups to carry out distance learning courses online.
• Job readiness and placement Programme, which provides training to help refugees get employment.

Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum – Uganda (HRAPF)

Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law

www.ugandans4rights.org
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Plot 9 Perryman Gardens, Old Kampala (Opposite Old Kampala Primary School)
Tel: +256 (0) 782 169 505
Email: info@ugandans4rights.org

Sexual Minorities Uganda

www.smug.4t.com
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Tel: +25 67 84 60 642
Email: smug_2004@yahoo.com