In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires
"African Charter on Human and People's Rights"
means the charter adopted by the OAU at the Assembly of the heads of state and government held in Nairobi, Kenya, on 26th June, 1981;
"African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child"
means the charter adopted by the OAU at the 26th session of the Assembly of heads of state and government held in Addis Ababa on 11th July, 1990;
"Appeals Board"
means the Refugees Appeals Board established under section
16
of this Act;
"alien"
means a person who is not a citizen of Uganda;
"authorised officer"
means a person referred to or designated as such under section
43
of this Act;
"asylum seeker"
means a person who has made an application for the grant of refugee status under section
19
of this Act;
"clearly abusive applications"
or "manifestly unfounded applications" means those applications which are clearly fraudulent or do not satisfy the criteria for the granting of refugee status under the Geneva Convention, the OAU Convention and this Act;
"Commissioner"
means the Commissioner for Refugees appointed under section
9
of this Act;
"Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women"
means the Convention adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by the United Nations Resolution 34/180 of 18th December, 1979;
"Convention on the Rights of the Child"
means the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted on 20th November, 1989 by the United Nations Conference on the Rights of the Child;
"country of nationality"
in relation to a person with more than one nationality, means each of the countries of which that person is a national;
"Eligibility Committee"
means the Refugee Eligibility Committee established under section
11
of this Act;
"elementary education"
means basic primary education;
"firearm"
means a lethal barrelled weapon of any description from which a shot, bullet or other missile can be discharged, or any prohibited weapon whether it is lethal or not and any component or part of that weapon designed or adapted to diminish the noise or flash caused by firing the weapon, and includes an air gun, air rifle or pistol;
"fraudulent", with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, means deceitful and dishonest;
"frontier"
means the land frontier, port of entry or any other point of entry into Uganda;
"gender discriminating practices"
includes strict and forced adherence to a dress code, obligatory pre- arranged marriages, physically harmful facial or genital mutilation, rape, domestic violence and other gender related negative activities;
"Geneva Convention"
means the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees done at Geneva on 28th July 1951 and includes the Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees done at New York on 31st January 1967;
"integration"
means a process of interaction and peaceful co-existence and the sharing of available services between refugees and nationals;
"member of family of a refugee"
means-
(a)
a spouse or spouses of the refugee;
(b)
a child of the refugee; and
(c)
any person who is dependent on the refugee;
"Minister"
means the Minister responsible for refugees;
"Ministry"
means the Ministry responsible refugees;
"non-political crime"
means a crime, which is not of a political character, or a crime, which does not involve opposition to the government of a country on an issue connected with the political control or government of that country; or a crime which is not incidental to, or forming part of, a political upheaval, committed as part of an organised political party or body contending for power or political control of a country;
"OAU"
means the Organisation of African Unity established by the Heads of State and Government of Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 25th May, 1963, and renamed as "Africa Union" on 9th July, 2001;
"OAU Convention"
means the Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the OAU at its Sixth Ordinary Session at Addis Ababa on 10th September 1969;
"Office"
means the Office of Refugees established under section
7
of this Act;
"persecution"
includes any threat to the life or freedom, or serious violation of the human rights of a person on account of that person's race, religion, nationality, sex, political opinion or membership of a particular social group; and as long as a person is threatened with any harm which can reasonably be seen as part of a course of systematic conduct directed against that person as an individual or as a member of a class of persons, on account of race, religion, nationality, sex, political opinion or membership of a particular social group, that person is being persecuted for the purposes of this Act;
"person"
includes any individual, firm, company, association, partnership or body of persons, whether incorporated or not;
"refugee"
or "recognised refugee" means a person who, having qualified to be granted refugee status under section
4
of this Act, has been granted refugee status by the Eligibility Committee under section
20
(2) of this Act, or is a member of class of persons declared to be refugees under section
25
of this Act;
"travel document"
means a travel document issued under or in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva Convention to a refugee lawfully staying in Uganda, for the purpose of travel outside Uganda;
"UNHCR"
means the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees referred to in the Geneva Convention, and includes his or her representative in Uganda.