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Refugees, who are ‘victims of conflict’, can easily turn into ‘perpetrators of armed conflict’. Rwandan refugees are a typical case, whose transformation into perpetrators of armed invasion, civil war, and ‘genocide’ was observed, especially in the 1990s, in Africa's Great Lakes region. One of the reasons for this is because these refugees have repeatedly faced problems of protection and repatriation since the 1960s.

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 The present Rwandan refugees, who fled after the 1994 genocide, have been surrounded by constant fear and ‘human insecurity’ mostly caused by their countries of origin and of asylum, and the UNHCR. Refugees’ ‘human insecurity’ has aggravated with the announcement of the cessation clause of refugee status while the on-going human rights violations caused by the Government of Rwanda is being reported in Rwanda. This reality of ‘human insecurity’ is invisible due to some political reasons.  

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There have been no systematic studies on the ‘human insecurity’ of Rwandan refugees who fled following the end of the 1994 genocide except for some fragmented reports. While the studies on the relationship among refugees, (human) security, and conflict have been conducted, almost all of them have focused on the limited area of a refugee camp and the security problems faced during their displacement.

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In order to discuss the following research questions, primary and secondary documents are being used and interview with refugees and key actors are being conducted. How can refugee protection be reinforced when their ‘human insecurity’ is invisible? When governments and the UNHCR have no political will to protect these refugees, which actors should play this role? Furthermore, how can we prevent armed conflict, if the main actor of human security, which is the international organisation (UNHCR), forces refugees to repatriate against their will?