Dadaab
camp is home to over 350,000 refugees fleeing from drought and the civil war in
Somalia. Amongst the refugee population are professionals and individuals with very
high potential of becoming useful people in the society. Apart from lawyers and
doctors, the refugee population also has sons and daughters who exemplarily perform
in schools.
This group is most often
resettled to the developed countries like the USA, where they acquire citizenship.
It is worth noting that Kenya has not embraced local integration as a
sustainable solution for refugees. Subsequently, most refugees are skeptical in
engaging in large-scale businesses for fear of losing their investments.
Consequently, most refugees opt to idle in the camp while those with outstanding
skills get resettled in third-world countries where they put theirs kills to
good use.
Kenyan Insecurity
It is clear that the
security in Kenya has for some time been making the headlines on both local and
international news. More often, we have pointed fingers at the refugees for the
insecurity dump. Administrative, legislative and military strategies have kept on
transforming to deal with the terrorists squarely.
While it might seem logical
to make a conclusion that the Dadaab refugees are the cause of insecurity, we
tend to forget that radicalized groups and individuals exist in our midst.
Several times, in a bid to
address the insecurity issues, there have been calls by the Government to close
Dadaab camps and take the Somali refugees back to home. Kenya ratified and
domesticated the 1951 UN Convention by enacting the Refugee Act, 2006.
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| Refugees at Dadaab Refugee Camp |
The law clearly stipulates
that refugees are subject to the laws of Kenya, which means that all criminal
elements can be dealt with individually under the law.
"This group is most often resettled to
the developed countries like the USA, where they acquire citizenship. It is
worth noting that Kenya has not embraced local integration as a sustainable
solution for refugees."
According to an article by Muthee Kiunga published in the Daily Nation on 14th April, 2015, most refugees have gone through horrendous experiences
of human rights violations. “For many of them, life is a daily struggle for
their dignity.
While there may be elements that may be recruited into violent
extremism…, it does not mean that the whole refugee community should be
punished. This would be tantamount to suggesting that because the mastermind of
an attack is from a certain ethnic, professional… community, all members of
that community are connected to terrorism, “ the article says in part.
Conversely, in 2007, the Government closed its borders at Liboi over
to security reasons. This occurred before the Refugees Act became operational.
In 2011 the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that
refugees fleeing hunger and conflict in Somali continued to arrive in Kenya in
thousands especially at the height of the drought crisis in Somali.
According to a publication (Taking Stock, 2013) by the
International Rescue Committee (IRC) the official closure of the border had the
effect of refugees crossing into the country without being screened. IRC also
noted that as a result of the official closure of the Liboi border, most
refugees were prompted
to use unofficial routes into the country which further aggravated
security concerns for Kenya.
All in all more sustainable approaches are required in
counterterrorism. With competent security agents, we should surely be able to
separate the wheat from the chaff and deal with the unwanted elements in the
society separately without jeopardizing the rights of other human beings.
Additionally, with the Government and UNHCR’s initiative to repatriate Somali refugees who volunteer to
go back home, it is the hope of many that the repatriation process will be humane,
uncorrupted and with dignity.
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