Kenyan officials conducting a repatriation programme of Somali refugees have been accused of deliberately coercing them to return to Somalia, where they face conflict-related violence, widespread sexual and gender-based violence against women and children, forced recruitment of children, and large-scale displacement.
For more than 20 years, Kenya has been home to generations of Somalis who have fled their war-torn country. However, instead of finding solace, there have been increasingly disturbing reports of police harassment and abuse targeted at Somali refugees.
Kenya’s government announced on 6 May its plans to speed up the repatriation of Somali refugees and close the sprawling Dadaab refugee camp in north-east Kenya by 30 November. Somalis make up 95% of the 280,000-strong population at the camp which the government has called an economic burden and a “breeding ground” for terrorism.
Assisted by officials from the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), Kenya stepped up a “voluntary” repatriation programme it initiated in 2013. This was carried out under an agreement signed by the UNHCR and the governments of Kenya and Somalia.