By the end of 2019, about 75.9 million people – 26 million refugees, 4.2 million asylum seekers and 45.7 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) – had been forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of persecution, armed conflict, other situations of violence or human rights violations (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 2020). In addition, millions of migrants are forcibly displaced as a result of extreme poverty, discrimination, climate change, forced evictions and other situations.

Why and in what forms does gender-based violence occur against refugees in Kyaka II? Are only women affected, or do they also perpetrate violence? What about men suffering such violence? And, how is violence in the camp connected to the respective risks faced during conflict and flight? These are some of the key questions guiding the analysis in this chapter, with a particular focus on Uganda’s refugee camp Kyaka II. After outlining the gendered understanding of the Galtungian concept of violence used, the chapter explores the gender-based violence experienced first during conflict and flight then particularly during encampment. The chapter reveals complex issues arising from the level and intensity of violence witnessed in all three phases of conflict, flight, and encampment. Focusing on the situation in Kyaka II, the research reveals that women constitute the main group of victims; they on occasion also perpetrate violence too, however. Moreover, men and boys are exposed to particular forms of gender-based violence as well. By eventually linking the three phases of conflict, flight, and encampment, the chapter exposes a continuum of gender-based violence against both women and men of different age groups.

The chapter introduces the core subject areas, case study, and research approach, as well as the overall framework of the book. Focusing on refugees’ lives in encampment in Uganda, the chapter first identifies and explains the inherently interrelated subject areas of gender-based violence, humanitarian aid, gender roles and relations, and coping strategies—each then explored in its own subsequent chapter. While of main interest is the perspectives, experiences, and practices of women, the research is not limited to them—those of women and men, of all different age groups, are consistently examined due to their mutual influences on one another. The chapter then sheds light on Uganda’s response to refugees and the case of Kyaka II, which is at the heart of the book. Although refugee protection in Uganda is often described as ‘progressive,’ the chapter summarizes the problems faced on-site and nationally, paving the way for further analysis in due course. The third part introduces the research approach taken along with reflections on ethical considerations and the writing of the book. The chapter closes by outlining the structure of the book and summarizing the main arguments of each of the subsequent chapters.

How do aid agencies deliver protection and assistance in Uganda’s Kyaka II, and specifically seek to prevent and overcome gender-based violence? In what ways do they affect the women and men living there? Focusing on these questions, the chapter explores the overall camp structures and scope of aid via the humanitarian apparatus, power practices, and decision-making—as well as their effects on the refugees living in Kyaka II. Divided into four parts, the first addresses developments and aid in the camp alongside hierarchies, and argues that refugees are made ‘protection objects.’ The second part centers on projects tackling gender-based violence, and their links with global refugee policies. It reveals how preventive and protective projects against gender-based violence as well as those to support empowerment essentially draw on ‘vulnerability’ categorizations, which portray women primarily as ‘vulnerable protection objects.’ The third part addresses correlations between aid, the camp architecture, and the prevalence of gender-based violence, revealing the three issues of aid workers at times perpetrating violence, the structural effects of aid, and the risks resulting from the camp landscape. Before concluding, the fourth part considers whether the broad critique of aid provision and of the camp is reasonable in light of the challenges that aid agencies themselves face.

How do refugees in Uganda’s Kyaka II cope with the violence, difficult camp conditions, and manifold uncertainties? This chapter explores the relationship between refugees’ coping strategies and the presenting issues, drawing on Lister’s agency theory. The first part revolves around practices to deal with risks of violence during conflict, flight, and encampment. It is argued that flight from violence during conflict represents a conscious decision rather than a passive reaction, and thus a protection strategy. Moreover, the role of voice and silence as well as mutual support, raising awareness in communities, and involvement in decision-making structures are explored as strategies consciously adopted to counter the prevalent risks faced during encampment. The second part addresses economic, social, political, and cultural practices to improve lives and livelihoods in the camp. This includes pursuing economic income by using or bypassing humanitarian regulations, creating normalcy and spheres of belonging despite multidimensional uncertainties, and consciously claiming rights. Hope for and belief in a better future is revealed not only to be a coping strategy but also a means of dealing with difficulties. This also includes belief in witchcraft as a way of making sense of problematic developments.