Rights violations follow government directive on refugees

On 18 December 2012, the Kenyan government through the Department of Refugees Affairs made an unprecedented announcement of a new directive to implement an encampment policy. All refugees and asylum seekers living in the urban areas were directed to relocate to the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps. The directive further stated that the government was terminating all registrations of refugees and asylum seekers that were taking place in urban centres. This announcement came as a surprise to many agencies working on refugee protection within the urban areas and to refugees who have been living in urban centres since the early nineties.

Following the announcement by the Government, the Refugee Consortium of Kenya (RCK) started receiving complaints from refugees through our protection monitors of their subjection to gross human rights violations by the Kenyan security forces who had began a security operation of rounding up refugees as part of implementing the government’s new directive.

The complaints that RCK received and documented ranged from arbitrary arrests, extortion, loss of property, illegal detention and harassment of refugees and persons of specific ethnicities by security officers in Nairobi. It is of concern that the government issued the directive on the relocation of urban refugees and asylum seekers without consulting any stakeholders such as members of the Urban Refugee Protection Network (URPN). This is despite the close working relationship that the stakeholders have had with the government on matters of refugee protection and management.

RCK also noted an increase in xenophobic attitudes from the Kenyan public against refugees. The xenophobic attitudes were being propagated by the media who were linking the increase of insecurity within the urban areas to the presence of refugees and asylum seekers, albeit there being no substantive evidence from the government which has linked refugees with acts of terrorism. It is important to reiterate that refugees and asylum seekers are not a threat to national security; on the contrary some have helped improve the economy of the country through their business ventures.

On 16 January 2013 the government through the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Security and Provincial Administration issued a directive to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Special Programmes, indicating the government’s plan to start the relocation on 21 January 2013. The directive indicated that all refugees residing in the urban areas would be rounded up and temporarily accommodated at Thika Municipal Stadium before being transferred to the various camps. RCK and other partners of the URPN are of the view that this amounts to arbitrary detention and disrespect to fundamental human rights. The deliberate act by the government of Kenya to hold the refugees and provide them with humanitarian assistance yet citing the plans on relocation as an emergency, is a matter of great concern.

As a result of this directive, the arbitrary arrests that had been witnessed in December became aggravated and many refugees and asylum seekers were arrested and others harassed by security officers. In interviews conducted with refugees and asylum seekers by RCK in January 2013, issues such as being detained by security officers and acts of extortion were frequently mentioned and documented. The refugees interviewed noted that security officers openly asked for bribes or asked the arrested refugees to inform their family/friends to take a certain amount of money to the officers in order to secure their freedom. These bribes ranged from as little as Kshs. 1,000 to as high as Kshs. 100,000, which clearly these refugees and asylum seekers cannot afford.

In addition, RCK has also received unconfirmed reports that some refugees and asylum seekers have gone to other countries in search for “safe havens” while others have repatriated to their countries of origin despite the security risks that exist there.
In a recent monitoring mission carried out by RCK to the Liboi border point, it was noted that 510 refugees crossed the border in the period between 18 -24 January 2013 and 138 of these had arrived from Nairobi. The refugees arriving from Nairobi had cited police harassment as the main cause for their decision to return to Somalia.

On 23 January, 2013 refugees and asylum seekers got a reprieve when URPN agencies obtained a temporary court injunction stopping the relocation from taking place pending hearing of a suit that declares the directive unconstitutional. The court has since referred the matter to 19th February to allow time for the Attorney General’s office to file an affidavit reply to the application seeking for temporary orders to stop the government’s plan for relocation of urban refugees. UNHCR and Katiba Institute have also been enjoined in the suit as amicus and they will be making submissions to the court regarding the case.

It is however disheartening to note that despite the ruling by the courts, the government appears determined to proceed with the relocation and has informed agencies in the camps to make preparations of receiving the refugees and asylum seekers from urban areas. RCK and other partners will continue to seek opportunities to lobby the government against this directive and to ensure that in the event that the government proceeds with implementing it that the rights and dignity of refugees and asylum seekers are fully protected.

* Lucy Kiama is Executive Director of Refugee Council of Kenya