QUESTION:
The Kenyan government in 2015/2016 threatened to repatriate Somali
refugees from Dadaab camp. Analyze how this action was or not inconformity
of international refugee law.
Abstract
Dadaab Refugee Camp (DRC) is the world biggest refugee camp complex consisting of five
camps; Dagahaley, Hagadere, Ifo, Ifo II and Kambios.This camp complex is located in Garissa
County, Kenya. The camp was established in 1991 and hosts over 350,000 refugees and asylum
seekers. After 25 years of its existence, the government of Kenya issued a notice to close Dadaab
refugee camp in May 2015, which was to be effected in three months’ time.
This paper is categorized into four; introduction, which consists of a list of international refugee
laws and the question of refugees, the body that explains the key arguments in the context
,conclusion that provide a wrap-up of the main issues discussed and the reference page
containing acknowledged materials. With the closure of Dadaab refugee camp, the government
of Kenya has in part conformed to international refugee law and in part violated the very law.
This paper discusses these two sides of the debate in details.
Introduction
Article 1 0f the OAU convention on refugees defines a refugee as “a person who, owing to
external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or events seriously disturbing public order
in either part or whole of his country of origin or nationality, is compelled to leave his place of
historical residence in order to seek refuge in another place outside his country of origin or
nationality”.
The United Nations Geneva convention of 1951 defines a refugee as a person fleeing a well-
founded fear of persecution.
From the above definition therefore, a refugee needs to be understood as a temporary resident of
the host country. According to Hofmann, the refugee crisis occurs as a result of systemic and
widespread violations of human rights, civil wars, external occupation and natural disasters such
as hunger and famine. Once these issues that made refugees are addressed, refugees are always
expected to return to their home country.
Kenya’s decision to repatriate refugees was consistent with international refugee law.
In this same line of thinking, the Kenyan government embarked on the closure of Dadaab
refugee camp in a voluntary repatriation programme in 2015.However, this situation led to a lot
of contestation as to whether the government’s decision to close down the camp was in
, conformity with international refugee law or in contravention to it.In this paper therefore, I
discusses this debate in details and finally I give my stance.
The government was hugely compelled to closing down of Dadaab refugee camp due to high
rates of insecurity in Kenya culminating from Westgate attacks and the Garissa University
attacks that resulted into 147 student casualties. These attacks were pegged to Al-Shabaab militia
that that were being allegedly hosted in the Dadaab refugee camp. Making the matter worse, the
Al-Shabaab were using the refugee camp as an avenue for radicalizing young Kenyan citizens,
teaching their extremist values and planning attacks on Kenyan soils. From this premise, the
government was fully in conformity with the international refugee law. For instance, article
33(2) of the 1951 United Nations Geneva Convention on Refugees explains that the principle of
nonrefoulment, which is a traditional hospitality of African people, cannot be claimed by
refugees who are reasonably regarded as a threat or danger to the security of the host country. In
the same vain, the 1969 OAU convention on Refugees emphasizes that for refugees to continue
being hosted in a country; they must refrain from subversive activities against any member of
state of the Organization of African Unity. To this extent, the government was acting in its
capacity to safeguard the lives and well-being of the citizens.
The international community had failed in the adherence to the principle of solidarity,
cooperation and burden-sharing. The government of Kenya was left alone to cater for refugees.
According to the deputy president of Kenya, William Ruto’s speech at the United Nations
General Assembly in May 2015, he claimed that the international community had failed to
support the refugee programme and especially the Dadaab refugee camp that is the world’s
biggest camp. To him, “Nothing can better demonstrate the failure of international burden-
sharing than this reality. It is also an indictment on the global framework for responding to
human distress”. According to the 1969 OAU convention on Refugees, article 2(4) stipulates that
on the event that any member state of the OAU finds it difficult to continues hosting refugees
and asylum seekers, it should appeal to the member states and the international community at
large so that they can ease the burden. But to Kenya, after a lot of appealing to the international
community since the year 2006, nothing came out fruitful. Therefore Kenya’s decision to
repatriate refugees is one way of letting the international community know that it cannot manage
this ever-increasing plight of refugees alone.
Permanent residence of refugees in a country usually comes out with a number of political,
psychological, socio-economic and environmental problems to the host country. In the same case
of Dadaab refugee camp that has been in existence for 25 years, it was originally designed to
accommodate 90,000 refugees, but as at February 2009, the camp had approximately 255,000
people. This situation has led to the government of Kenya and other aid agencies such as the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) struggle to provide basic necessities
such as food, clean and safe water, sanitation and healthcare. In addition, over-congestion in
Dadaab camp has also led to environmental degradation and demand for more land for the
expansion of the camp. These phenomena forced the government of Kenya to demand for
pg. 1
The Kenyan government in 2015/2016 threatened to repatriate Somali
refugees from Dadaab camp. Analyze how this action was or not inconformity
of international refugee law.
Abstract
Dadaab Refugee Camp (DRC) is the world biggest refugee camp complex consisting of five
camps; Dagahaley, Hagadere, Ifo, Ifo II and Kambios.This camp complex is located in Garissa
County, Kenya. The camp was established in 1991 and hosts over 350,000 refugees and asylum
seekers. After 25 years of its existence, the government of Kenya issued a notice to close Dadaab
refugee camp in May 2015, which was to be effected in three months’ time.
This paper is categorized into four; introduction, which consists of a list of international refugee
laws and the question of refugees, the body that explains the key arguments in the context
,conclusion that provide a wrap-up of the main issues discussed and the reference page
containing acknowledged materials. With the closure of Dadaab refugee camp, the government
of Kenya has in part conformed to international refugee law and in part violated the very law.
This paper discusses these two sides of the debate in details.
Introduction
Article 1 0f the OAU convention on refugees defines a refugee as “a person who, owing to
external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or events seriously disturbing public order
in either part or whole of his country of origin or nationality, is compelled to leave his place of
historical residence in order to seek refuge in another place outside his country of origin or
nationality”.
The United Nations Geneva convention of 1951 defines a refugee as a person fleeing a well-
founded fear of persecution.
From the above definition therefore, a refugee needs to be understood as a temporary resident of
the host country. According to Hofmann, the refugee crisis occurs as a result of systemic and
widespread violations of human rights, civil wars, external occupation and natural disasters such
as hunger and famine. Once these issues that made refugees are addressed, refugees are always
expected to return to their home country.
Kenya’s decision to repatriate refugees was consistent with international refugee law.
In this same line of thinking, the Kenyan government embarked on the closure of Dadaab
refugee camp in a voluntary repatriation programme in 2015.However, this situation led to a lot
of contestation as to whether the government’s decision to close down the camp was in
, conformity with international refugee law or in contravention to it.In this paper therefore, I
discusses this debate in details and finally I give my stance.
The government was hugely compelled to closing down of Dadaab refugee camp due to high
rates of insecurity in Kenya culminating from Westgate attacks and the Garissa University
attacks that resulted into 147 student casualties. These attacks were pegged to Al-Shabaab militia
that that were being allegedly hosted in the Dadaab refugee camp. Making the matter worse, the
Al-Shabaab were using the refugee camp as an avenue for radicalizing young Kenyan citizens,
teaching their extremist values and planning attacks on Kenyan soils. From this premise, the
government was fully in conformity with the international refugee law. For instance, article
33(2) of the 1951 United Nations Geneva Convention on Refugees explains that the principle of
nonrefoulment, which is a traditional hospitality of African people, cannot be claimed by
refugees who are reasonably regarded as a threat or danger to the security of the host country. In
the same vain, the 1969 OAU convention on Refugees emphasizes that for refugees to continue
being hosted in a country; they must refrain from subversive activities against any member of
state of the Organization of African Unity. To this extent, the government was acting in its
capacity to safeguard the lives and well-being of the citizens.
The international community had failed in the adherence to the principle of solidarity,
cooperation and burden-sharing. The government of Kenya was left alone to cater for refugees.
According to the deputy president of Kenya, William Ruto’s speech at the United Nations
General Assembly in May 2015, he claimed that the international community had failed to
support the refugee programme and especially the Dadaab refugee camp that is the world’s
biggest camp. To him, “Nothing can better demonstrate the failure of international burden-
sharing than this reality. It is also an indictment on the global framework for responding to
human distress”. According to the 1969 OAU convention on Refugees, article 2(4) stipulates that
on the event that any member state of the OAU finds it difficult to continues hosting refugees
and asylum seekers, it should appeal to the member states and the international community at
large so that they can ease the burden. But to Kenya, after a lot of appealing to the international
community since the year 2006, nothing came out fruitful. Therefore Kenya’s decision to
repatriate refugees is one way of letting the international community know that it cannot manage
this ever-increasing plight of refugees alone.
Permanent residence of refugees in a country usually comes out with a number of political,
psychological, socio-economic and environmental problems to the host country. In the same case
of Dadaab refugee camp that has been in existence for 25 years, it was originally designed to
accommodate 90,000 refugees, but as at February 2009, the camp had approximately 255,000
people. This situation has led to the government of Kenya and other aid agencies such as the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) struggle to provide basic necessities
such as food, clean and safe water, sanitation and healthcare. In addition, over-congestion in
Dadaab camp has also led to environmental degradation and demand for more land for the
expansion of the camp. These phenomena forced the government of Kenya to demand for
pg. 1
