Uganda through the ministry of foreign affairs has received third country nationals from the United States under a bilateral arrangement aimed at processing asylum claims
In a statement issued on April 3, 2026, the Permanent Secretary at the ministry, Vincent Bagiire Waiswa said the agreement allows Uganda to host and assess individuals who are neither Ugandan nor American but are seeking international protection.
“The Governments of the Republic of Uganda and the United States of America signed an Agreement for Cooperation in the Examination of Protection Requests in July 2025,” Waiswa said.
He noted that the arrangement is in line with Uganda’s legal and international obligations.
“The Agreement conforms to Uganda’s national laws and international obligations,” he added.
Waiswa explained that the deal targets third country nationals of African origin who may not have been granted asylum in the United States or are unable to return to their countries of origin.
“As clarified after the agreement was signed, it is in respect of third country nationals who are neither citizens of Uganda nor the USA, but of African origin, who may not be granted asylum in the USA and are reluctant to or may have concerns about returning to their countries of origin,” he said.
He emphasized that the agreement is guided by humanitarian principles, including the protection of individuals from forced return to unsafe conditions.
“This Safe Third Country Agreement takes into account both Governments’ international obligations, including the principle of non refoulement that guarantees that no one should be returned to a country where they would face torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,” Waiswa said.
According to the Ministry, a first group of eight individuals has already arrived in Uganda under the arrangement.
“Pursuant to this bilateral agreement, a group of eight individuals, whose cases had been reviewed and approved by a USA immigration judge, arrived in Uganda from the USA on 1 April 2026, and their protection requests will be handled,” he said.
Waiswa added that details of the individuals would remain confidential for privacy reasons.
He reaffirmed Uganda’s longstanding position on refugee protection.
“Uganda continues to uphold its longstanding commitment to providing sanctuary to persons in need and ensuring that they are treated with dignity,” he said.
However, the Uganda Law Society, in a statement by Asiimwe Anthony, the body’s vice president dated April 2, 2026, had challenged the arrangement in court, raising serious concerns over legality, transparency and human rights implications.
Asiimwe said, “We have learnt about an advanced plot to forcibly remove (in the name of deportation) a dozen people from the United States and effectively dump them in Uganda through an undignified, harrowing and dehumanising process that has reduced them into little more than chattel, for the benefit of unnamed, private interests on either side of the Atlantic.”
The lawyers’ body further revealed that the transfers were already underway, raising alarm over lack of institutional involvement.
“We have been informed that the privately owned aircraft carrying the deportees is or will soon be airborne and will be touching down at Entebbe International Airport today,” the statement reads.
It added, “Our research indicates that none of the mandated institutions, such as the Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control, the Parliament of Uganda, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have been engaged regarding this matter. Moreover, no policy document or legislation has been promulgated to stipulate the procedures relevant to the transfer of people from one country to another.”
The society also raised concerns about alleged profiteering and the broader implications of the arrangement.
“Typical of such suspicious arrangements, we have also learnt about private contractors who are falling over themselves to cash in on the suffering of fellow human beings whose crime is to have been arbitrarily deemed as undesirable and as such disposable to the most willing takers,” it said.
It warned that such actions echo past injustices.
“This development and the attendant illegalities that accompany it are reminiscent of a dark past that the global family of humanity supposedly put behind itself in pursuit of the ideal that every human being is born equal in dignity and rights,” the statement added.
The Uganda Law Society also linked the issue to broader geopolitical and governance concerns.
“In the United States, the militarisation of society has given carte blanche to captured democracies in Africa to carry on with despotism unchecked,” the statement reads.
“As African citizens, besides our professional duties as lawyers, this is yet another act of effrontery that places the continent and its people at the bottom of a perceived racial hierarchy that justifies untold suffering, wanton lawlessness, political instability and perennial mistreatment.”
The body said it has already taken legal action to halt the process.
“Towards a remedy, we have approached the Courts of Law in Uganda and the region, seeking bespoke reliefs designed to arrest this patent international illegality,” it said.
“We urge the media and the public to draw the attention of the national, regional and continental publics, and stir discussion on this matter until it is either halted or reversed.”
The lawyers also framed the issue within a wider global context.
“Our perspective of the matter is broader than the single act of deportation. We view it as but one gust from the ill winds of transnational repression that are blowing across our world,” the statement noted.
They called on the public to actively engage with the issue.
“We invite the Ugandan and African public to interest itself in our modest effort at combating the collusion between the governments in Washington and Kampala, and play their respective roles in challenging not just this particular deportation of human beings, but the broader authoritarian project for which such acts are a necessary feature.”
The Uganda Law Society further urged urgent judicial intervention.
“In the same breath, we implore the national and regional courts to consider our applications with the urgency and seriousness they deserve,” the statement said.
The body added that it would continue pursuing the matter.
“Over the coming days and weeks, pursuant to our mandate, we will continue updating you about the next steps in this campaign as we assert the sovereign rights of Uganda and the deportees who are enduring inhuman and degrading treatment at the hands of shadowy interests.”
