Human Rights Watch wants the Kenyan government to reconsider its intention to close the Dadaab refugee camp.
The camp mainly houses Somali refugees. HRW says forcing them to return to Somalia to face violence or persecution would be inhumane and a violation of Kenya’s legal obligations.
“Kenya should abandon plans to close the camp and instead uphold its commitment to protect refugees it has hosted for three decades,” Otsieno Namwaya a researcher at Human Rights Watch said.
The organisation’s response comes in the wake of reports of a leaked internal United Nations document in which Kenya told the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) about its plans to close Dadaab.
UNHCR responded by telling Kenya any plan to close Dadaab must include voluntary repatriation of refugees to countries of origin, relocation of refugees to other parts of Kenya or resettlement in third countries.
The HRW says the reason for the latest communication by the Kenyan government on its intent to close the camp is unclear.
Kenya has tried to close the camp before.
In 2016, the Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government, Karanja Kibicho, said the government would no longer host refugees. The government also planned to disband the Department of Refugee Affairs to “ensure the security of Kenyan citizens from the risk of violent attack”. Kibicho said that some of the biggest terrorist attacks in the country, such as the attack on Nairobi’s Westgate Mall, had been planned and executed from Dadaab.
HRW says Kenya has yet to credibly establish links between refugee camps and extremist attacks.
According to the UNHCR, Dadaab has a population of at least 235,269 registered refugees and asylum seekers.
