As Kenya prepares to close the world’s largest refugee camp, a rights watchdog said the repatriation of Somalis from the sprawling Dadaab camp is based on misinformation and violates international standards.
Human Rights Watch, which interviewed scores of people in the vast camp last month, said Thursday that many Somalis are returning home involuntarily, only to face danger, persecution and hunger.
Kenya wants to close the vast camp housing some 263,000 Somali refugees in north-east Kenya by November, insisting it is a security threat and a drain on national resources.
“Many refugees … say they have agreed to return home because they fear Kenya will force them out if they stay,” said the HRW report after interviewing around 100 people at the camp.
Refugees spoke of intimidation by the Kenyan government, lack of information on ways of remaining or on conditions in Somalia, as well as fears of losing a $400 repatriation cash grant if they wind up being deported at the end of the year.
“The Kenyan authorities are not giving Somali refugees a real choice between staying and leaving, and the U.N. refugee agency isn’t giving people accurate information about security conditions in Somalia,” said HRW’s refugee rights director, Bill Frelick, in a statement.