Burundian refugees may have fled violence in their own country, but they are facing abuses in their Rwanda-based camps, lawmakers have said.

MPs who toured seven camps in March found that sexual violence and exploitation within and outside the camps was rampant, as well as drug and child abuse.

In the Mahama Camp, which houses over 50,000 refugees, the perpetrators are said to be both fellow refugees and Rwandan nationals outside the camp.

Some refugees told The EastAfrican that they engage in “any” activity to survive because they have no income and the cost of living in Rwanda is too high.

Rwandan parliamentarians have now come up with 10 resolutions that need to be implemented by the government and its partners to ensure that refugees’ lives are better protected and improved.

“The young men in the refugee camps spend all day doing nothing, which makes them susceptible to drug abuse and other vices,” said Zeno Mutimura, chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs.

The resolutions include extending free healthcare to all groups of refugees. Currently, only children below 12, pregnant women, disabled and elderly refugees get free healthcare. Another resolution is to provide cash handouts to refugees.

The MPs also disagreed with the government’s proposal to relocate Burundian refugees to other countries, suggesting that the only viable solution was to repatriate them.

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The government did not specify the countries where the refugees would be relocated, but in the past the United States has received refugees from Rwanda.

Since 2005, the United States government has taken in more than 7,000 refugees from Rwanda — most of them Congolese.

Azam Saber, the UNHCR representative to Rwanda said funds to manage refugee affairs are decreasing and Rwanda’s largest refugee camp, Mahama Camp, still needs “a lot of work” as more refugees continue to flee to the country.

“The refugees need to move to more durable structures so they can try to live a normal life. Dozens of refugees arrive at the camp each week in need of urgent humanitarian aid and the needs are constantly growing,” said Mr Saber.

The UNHCR said it needed $63 million to ensure the protection and basic needs of Burundian refugees, but by April it had only received $13 million from the USA, Japan and the European Commission for Humanitarian Aid.

Rwanda is currently home to around 160,000 refugees mainly from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi.

Corrected headline: We erroneously stated that crime is on the rise in Rwanda refugee camps. We have since established that the findings of the MPs tour did not indicate an increase in crime but rather identified cases such as drug abuse, domestic violence, among others.

-Editor.