Information on refugees in Rwanda
The 1951 Refugee Convention declares that a refugee is someone who “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.”
UNHCR has been working to support refugees – from a variety of nationalities – in Rwanda for over 30 years.
Congolese Refugees:
From 1996, Rwanda has been hosting primarily Congolese refugees. They include refugees who fled in the 1990s, as well those who arrived as a result of the 2012-2013 renewed hostilities in eastern DRC and more recently over 13,000 asylum seekers who have fled since November 2022. For the latest statistics on Congolese refugees in Rwanda please click here.
Burundian Refugees
As a result of election-related tensions in neighbouring Burundi, Rwanda has opened its border to host thousands of Burundian refugees who have fled the country since April 2015. Currently around 50,000 Burundian refugees are registered with UNHCR in Rwanda. Since 2020, approximately 30,000 Burundian refugees have returned home. Over the last year, however, rates of return have diminished over the past year due to refugee worries about lack of services, infrastructure and insecurity back home. For the latest statistics on Burundian refugees in Rwanda please click here.
Other Refugees
In addition to the primarily Congolese and Burundian caseloads, Rwanda host small numbers of refugees and asylum seekers from other countries such as Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan, Somalia and Ethiopia representing 0.5 percent of the total refugee population.
For more information on refugees and asylum seekers evacuated from Libya through the Emergency Transit Mechanism click here.