Section 34 of the Refugees Act (2006) on personal status briefly mentions marriage: “(1) The personal status of a recognised refugee shall be governed by the law of the country of his or her domicile or, if he or she has no domicile, by the law currently in force in Uganda. (2) All rights previously acquired by a refugee and dependent on personal status, particularly rights attaching to marriage, shall be respected, subject to the laws of Uganda.”

The Constitution, under article 18, provides that the State has the obligation to register every birth, marriage and death occurring in Uganda. Hence, the registration of vital events in Uganda is universal in its coverage and all population groups including non-nationals and refugees are covered. The civil registration system in Uganda is governed by the Registration of Persons Act, the Registration of Persons Regulations and the Marriage Act of 1904.

According to section 28 and 41 of the Registration of Persons Act, every birth and death within Uganda is free and compulsory. However, section 1(2) (b) of the Act states that the Act applies to the registration of all persons except to a refugee recognized by the Government and the UNHCR. The Registration of Persons Regulations, that was introduced to further implement the Act, provides, under regulation 5(2) and 16 (3), that the registration of every birth and death is free and compulsory. Furthermore, regulation 3(8) of the Regulation that discusses about the form of birth registration seems to consider the registration of vital events of refugees. In practice, refugees’ vital events are recognized and recorded in the same manner as nationals free of charge.

The Registration of Persons Act, section 4(1), mandates the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) to register births and deaths in Uganda. As per section 5(1) of the Act and 14 (3) of the Registration of Persons Regulations, NIRA has the duty to register birth and deaths of Uganda citizens as well as non-nationals who are lawfully resident in Uganda; to assign a unique national identification number to every person registered in the register; and to issue national identification cards and aliens identification cards. The local civil registration offices for births and deaths are at the district levels. The Registration of Persons Regulation further reinforces the above points under regulation 4(1) and (2) and 14 (1) and (2). While the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) is mandated to register marriage and divorce. URSB is also responsible for licensing churches to celebrate marriages and solemnizing civil marriages including for refugees.

According to section 31 of the Marriage Act,  the registrar of marriages in each district shall forthwith register in a book to be kept in his or her office for that purpose, and to be called “The Marriage Register Book”, every certificate of marriage which shall be filed in his or her office, according to Form F in the First Schedule to this Act; and every such entry shall be made in the order of date from the beginning to the end of the book, and every entry so made shall be dated on the day on which it is so entered, and shall be signed by the registrar, and the book shall be indexed in such manner as is best suited for easy reference to it.