Just two weeks before the deadline given to close the Dadaab refugee camp, Kenyan government officials are deliberately coercing refugees to return to Somalia, where they risk being injured or killed in the ongoing armed conflict, Amnesty International said in a report released today.
The government announced in May that it would close the world’s largest refugee camp, which is home to more than 280,000 mostly Somali refugees, citing security, economic and environmental concerns, in addition to lack of support by the international community. Since then, government officials have made statements in the media and visited the camp, threatening people to leave before the closure slated for 30 November 2016.
“The refugees are caught between a rock and a hard place. Kenyan government officials are telling them they must leave by the end of the month or they will be forced to leave without any assistance,” said Michelle Kagari, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.
“These actions contravene the Kenyan government’s assurances to the international community that it would ensure all refugee repatriations are voluntary and carried out in safety and dignity.”
Amnesty International researchers visited Dadaab in August, where they interviewed 56 refugees individually and held focus group discussions with 35 more.
Among those interviewed were two brothers aged 15 and 18 who had gone to Somalia in January 2016 and came back to Dadaab four months later. They said that when they got to Somalia, their father was killed in front of them and they were forcibly recruited by Al-Shabaab. They eventually escaped and made it back to Dadaab.
The dangers associated with the armed conflict in Somalia have been greatly underreported to the refugees by the UN and NGOs facilitating the return process from Dadaab to Somalia. For instance, in August, when thousands of people were going through the return process, UNHCR’s information on the security situation in Somalia had not been updated since December 2015 in spite of increasing insecurity in many areas. The UN and the NGOs are currently working to update their information, however, it is unclear when this will be completed and what level of detail will be included.
Besides, Somalia, which is currently grappling with over 1.1 million internally displaced people, lacks the necessary resources to handle a large-scale return of refugees from Dadaab. Services including shelter, healthcare and education remain in desperately short supply.
Most refugees interviewed by Amnesty International said they were only considering leaving due to threats from Kenyan government officials.