Public Law 96-212, the Refugee Act of 1980, which President Carter signed into law on March 17, 1980 and which went into effect on April 1, 1980, stands as irrefutable evidence of our humanitarian and democratic ideals and concerns as a nation. Adopted after years of study and in the light of our increasing experience in confronting the refugee problem as a permanent phenomenon of global dimensions, the new law represents a watershed in our immigration history. This is the first comprehensive amendment of our general immigration laws designed to face up to the realities by stating a clear-cut national policy and providing a flexible mechanism to meet the rapidly shifting developments of a troubled world.

The basic facts are well known: half the world’s refugees are in African, trying to eke out an existence in some of the world’s poorest countries. Since the numbers –five million is the usual total given for all Africa–change constantly, one cannot be precise about how many there are. African countries have opened their doors and, inevitably, their economies to the refugees; the international community is giving help, chiefly through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. There are obvious reasons for countries of asylum to inflate the figures. Moreover, since more homeless people may arrive tomorrow–or may already have come without making their presence known–the’most honest of officials have incentive to err on the generous side.

The fact that more than half of the world’s refugees are presently found in Africa is a reality that has gone unrecognized or been ignored by the Reagan Administration policies toward refugees. This is partially a reflection of the lack of understanding of the American public about the extent and magnitude of the refugee crisis in Africa. The current total of 6.3 million African refugees is likely to increase substantially in the near future. In absolute terms, the increase in the number of African refugees for the last ten years is over 5 million, an increase of more than 500%. The rate of increase between 1979-81 is particularly significant. Within two years the refugee population swelled by 50%, giving Africa the tragic responsibility of being a host continent for more than half of the world’s refugees (See Table 1).

New York, N.Y., February 12, 1982. The Emergency Committee for African Refugees, in a joint press conference with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), announced a campaign to block the deportation of nearly 5,000 Ethiopian refugees. These Ethiopians have had their Voluntary Departure Status cancelled by the United States Department of State.

Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in the world. Except for a brief five year period of Italian occupation (1936-41), Ethiopia, in the span of its thousands of years of existence, was never conquered and administered by a foreign power. Therefore, the tradition of permanent emigration or seeking asylum in foreign countries is an alien concept to the Ethiopian people.

Ancient and medieval Ethiopia is depicted as having existed in isolation from contemporaneous states and empires. This attribution of isolationism, compactly expressed by Edward Gibbon’s oft quoted statement that “the Ethiopians slept nearly a thousand years, forgetful of the world by whom they were forgotten,” is not at all borne by historical facts.

The debate over who is a “legitimate refugee” involves more than just a quarrel over definitions. Haitians and African refugees, largely Ethiopians, have come to our shores in much the same manner as previous groups. The reaction to the arrival of these groups, however, must be seen in the context of legal and political changes in American society.

The “first asylum” phenomenon of persons fleeing to the United States as their first place of refuge from persecution has become the primary focus of any policy decisions affecting our refugee and immigration laws. Further, the “first asylum” issue has blurred the distinctions between refugees and immigrants.

Africa remains the continent with the greatest number of refugees. All over the continent, refugees arrive in countries facing their own development problems and difficulties; they are, nevertheless, received with generosity and hospitality, in line with deep-rooted traditions that have remained alive thoughout the turmoil of events.

I cannot but emphasize once more, at the outset of this gathering, my profound appreciation for this approach of African governments and peoples to the refugee problem. This attitude brings considerable relief to the plight of the refugees and is an example to the world; it is also an ever-present asset in our relationship with the governments and in our co-operation with the Organization of African Unity, the multiple aspects of which are being constantly developed and reinforced in the most positive humanitarian spirit.

– “One of the most pressing problems of the world today–the plight of over 5 million refugees in Africa”

– “Every other refugee in the world is an African”

– “The refugee tragedy in Africa is a human tragedy”

– “The largest refugee problem on the continent is in the Horn of Africa”

The quotations above succinctly describe the refugee situation in Africa, in general, and especially in the Horn of Africa. In recent years, the Horn of Africa has been experiencing a rapidly worsening refugee situation. In 1979, the Organization of African United indicated that Africa, apart from “becoming the continent with the largest number of least developed countries and harbouring the largest number of the most economically backward regions in the world–constituting the periphery of the periphery in the international economic system, Africa is ... becoming the continent with largest number of refugees who constitute more than 40 per cent of the world refugee population.” The situation has since worsened as the number of refugees has reached, perhaps passed, the 5 million mark.

There can be little doubt that the African refugee problem is a severe one that should command a good deal more attention than it has received over the past few years in the public’s eye. But if the African refugee crisis has received less than its deserved attention, the role of private voluntary organizations (PVOs) in responding to that crisis has received less. It is the purpose of this brief inquiry to assess the role of PVCs in the African refugee situation. Before doing so it is essential that the dimensions of Africa’s refugee problem be briefly outlined.

Idi Amin’s eight-year reign as dictator of Uganda produced one of the most vicious regimes in Africa’s recent history. The number of people who met violent death at the hands of the regime’s agents is estimated to have been as high as 100,000.

When the regime was swept away by Tanzanian troops in April 1979, it was expected by Ugandans as well as foreign observers that at long last, political and social violence would abate. However, the events of the last three years have belied these hopes and expectations.

In this paper I will discuss women’s rights regarding marriage, the family, and genital operations in the context of internationally accepted views of the individual rights of women. I focus upon these particular areas partly because the issue of female genital operations in Africa has been the subject of much popular attention in the last three years, but mainly because, given that women’s biological reproductive roles are so much more central to their lives than are the equivalent roles for men, their rights in these areas profoundly affect their ability to exercise their rights in other areas, i.e. in the polity and in the economy. For data I use examples from several English-speaking sub-Saharan countries.

Zambia’s contemporary experience of recession without resolution is, alas, quite typical of the majority of African states over the decade; for since the celebration of ten years of independence in 1974, its national income has been in almost continuous decline. But this economic decay has had an uneven impact, between both time periods and social groups: occasional injections of foreign aid or loans have been permissive of relative affluence for elements in the bourgeoisie and labor aristocracy along the line-of-rail. The full impact of negative growth has been felt in the more distant rural areas and among the peasantry and the unemployed.