Negotiating ‘Kenyanness’ (original) (raw)

REFUGEE AFFAIRS THE KENYAN PERSPECTIVE

For over 20 years or so, Kenya has been hosting refugees of different nationalities from across the region and is home to one of the biggest refugee camps in the world. Very few African countries can claim to have an asylum regime that has been as flexible and accommodating as that of Kenya, yet in recent years Kenya’s asylum regime has undergone substantial changes in both its policy framework and management practice due to changing security dynamics and the changes drive factors that cause displacement within the region. To this end, both the government and humanitarian actors have been forced to find new approaches and practices. The focus of this writing is on the role of the DRA in refugee affairs. Based on this, the law on refugee affairs will be outlined first. Thereafter it will assess whether the government of the Republic of Kenya being the duty bearer acted within the legal bounds on its decision to deport illegal immigrants of Somali origin based on the international law principle of non-refoulement and the repatriation of registered refugees to camps. It will also assess whether asylum applications as carried out under domestic law, conform to internationally recognized due process standards. Further it will assess the challenges facing the DRA. Lastly a conclusion will be drawn and recommendations offered.

ADDRESSING THE IMPACT OF NON-REFOULMENT OF REFUGEES: THE KENYAN DILEMMA

Kenya hosts in the excess of half a million refugees. However the government was at times accused of disrespecting the principle of non-refoulment. On this background I will have a glance at the history of refugee protection globally. Subsequently Kenyan history with refugees is studied with emphasis on the laws and policies that were adopted by the government. Thereafter the paper seeks to look into the meaning and scope of the principle of non-refoulment and its application to Kenya. With due regard to the obligation under non-refoulment the author examines the Kenyan refugee management system and its suitability for advancing the rights of refugees while not compromising the national interests. Lastly the paper seeks to highlight the challenges that the government faces in its bid to provide asylum and the possible solutions to these problems.

PROTECTION OF REFUGEES: AFRICAN CONTEXT (LLB-DLP Holder, LLM Candidate in International Law

Aloys NTIRUSHWAMABOKO, 2020

Forced displacement of people from their homeland remains a global issue of concern of humanity. Along centuries, generations and decades, mass population and individuals have been leaving their living places to seek for asylum in areas where they can at least remain safe. Wars between states, states and non-states actors either national or international, wars of liberation, diseases, lack of basic needs, economic hardship, disasters as results of mankind remains unquestionably as causes of fleeing from perilous to safe places at national or international arena. Persecution either generalised or individualised on the grounds of race, religion, nationality, membership over a particular social group, political opinion also continue to exist in different areas of the world to the extent that some choose to leave from their areas seeking for shelter in other countries. The international community has been acting on this issue but up to now, it remains unanswerable along the globe. The UN has put in place the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to address and cope with the issue of refugees in the world but it remains questionable in different areas of the sphere especially in Africa. As of 2019 report, Africa counted the number of 4.413 million of refugee over the continent and as a matter of the situation, the biggest refugee camp is found in Africa; that is Dadaab Refugee camp located Kenya with a registered population of 211.365 of refugees. This paper is a brief description on refugee protection in Africa. It consists of 3 main parts that are the general background on refugee-hood context, the regional protection of refugees in Africa: Regional cooperation arrangements in place, Top-refugee hosting countries in Africa and the contribution of 1969 OAU Convention on the protection of Refugees in Africa, the role and contributions of African Union and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on the protection of Refugees and ends with a Conclusion

THE INTERNATIONAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF REFUGEE PROTECTION

2019

The more there are conflicts, the more they generate a large number of refugees, the more a large number of refugees is spread out around the world, the more it becomes a global issue involving the entire international community. Nowadays, the protection of refugees has become a major problem states, international organizations and other refugees' agencies have been facing, so it can be seen as a continuous feature of international life in the present century. The aim of this article is to show the place of the protection of refugees in the international legal framework, which is International refugee law, governing refugee protection as a branch of international law, originating from the revolution in Russia and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after the First World War in Europe, causing mass movement of people. International law is not itself a solution to the problem of refugees and the challenges produced by migratory flow, but it can be a facilitator and a guide to the principled effectiveness of measures which states may take. The significance of this topic is perceived from the fact it remains a current one and a global issue involving all the states signing the 1951 Geneva Convention on the status of the refugees.

Reconciling Refugees Right to Non-Refoulement and Repatriation of Refugees as a Counterterrorism Measure Intended to Uphold National Security in Kenya

SSRN Electronic Journal

This paper seeks to conceptualize and discuss the interplay between the need to uphold national security through counterterrorism measures like repatriation of refugees and refugees' right to non-refoulement as codified by various laws. In doing so this paper will analyze the delicate balance that Kenya has to always maintain when repatriating refugees as a counterterrorism measure while upholding refugees' right to non-refoulement. Indeed, this discourse is timely considering that the government of Kenya has many times sought to close down Dadaab Refugee Camp, after terming it a breeding ground for terrorists.