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<p>In October 2023, Rwanda hosted 135,000 refugees and asylum seekers, mainly from
Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the United Nations High
Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).</p><p>Rwanda hosts the Emergency Transit Mechanism
(ETM), which facilitates the temporary evacuation of refugees and asylum-seekers from
Libya. By September 2023, 1,737 refugees and asylum seekers had arrived in Rwanda
under the ETM. Once in Rwanda, the UNHCR registers and verifies the refugees and asylum
seekers and determines their refugee status. Rwanda currently hosts 698 refugees and
asylum seekers under this scheme, pending resettlement in third countries. They also
have the option of returning to their home countries or staying and integrating in
Rwanda, although no refugees have chosen this so far.</p><p>We are also aware from
open source reporting of refugees from Afghanistan and Sudan who have successfully
resettled in Rwanda, including:</p><p>a) The entire student body of the School of
Leadership Afghanistan (SOLA), a girls' boarding school which relocated from Kabul
to Rwanda after the Taliban seized power in August 2021. Nearly 250 members of the
SOLA community, including all 100 students, arrived in Rwanda. More Afghan students
continue to arrive and live/stay at the school in Rwanda each year.</p><p>b) Sudan's
University of Medical Sciences and Technology (UMST) relocated to Rwanda because of
civil war in its home country. The UMST plans to transfer over 7,000 students to Rwanda.
So far, 280 students have arrived in Kigali, been granted student visas, and are continuing
their studies.</p>
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