Nations like Uganda that host hundreds of thousands of refugees from neighbouring African conflicts should serve as a lesson to the West, the new head of the UN's refugee agency said today.
Marking World Refugee Day with his first overseas trip in the role, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres was visiting camps in northwest Uganda near the borders with Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
"I believe Uganda is an extraordinary example of generosity towards refugees," the former Portuguese prime minister said.
"This is a lesson for rich nations where the issue of genuine asylum seekers has become confused with illegal immigrants and terrorism," he said.
Uganda hosts some 220,000 Sudanese refugees - more than any other country neighbouring Sudan - most of them near the border in sprawling camps north and northwest of Arua town.
Despite a deal in January to end decades of war in southern Sudan, aid workers say more than 7,000 refugees have crossed the border into Uganda since then.
The refugees say they are fleeing hunger and attacks by armed militias, and some say they also left because growing tribal tensions as power is shared following the peace deal.
"Refugees here have had generous support," Mr Guterres said. "Land has been granted to them, and they have been integrated into communities, and that is something that is really difficult to find anywhere in the world."