Rights group warns Kenya over plan to shut refugee camp

NAIROBI, Kenya

Do not force Somali refugees to return back home in volatile areas, the Human Rights Watch warned Kenya on Thursday as the country prepares to shut down world's biggest refugee camp.

"The move threatens the rights and safety of 250,000 people, mostly Somali refugees and asylum seekers, whose future is now in limbo," HRW said in a statement.

Kenya plans to close by the end of August the Dadaab camp in the east of the country, which is home mostly to Somalis who have fled the civil war in their country that started in 1991.

"Kenya should abandon plans to close the camp and instead uphold its commitment to protect refugees it has hosted for three decades," said Otsieno Namwaya, lead researcher at HWR.

"The authorities should ensure that any refugee returns are voluntary, humane, and based on reliable information about the security situation in Somalia," he said.

Citing security concerns Kenya, on February 12, urged the UNHCR to speed up efforts for the relocation of the refugees and asylum-seekers residing at the Dadaab camp.

Since the start of UNHCR's voluntary repatriation program, 82,840 refugees have returned back to Somalia at their own will, according to the UN agency.

However, the number of voluntary repatriations fell to just 7,543 in 2018 compared to 33,792 in 2017.

This is not the first time Kenya announces plans to close the Dadaab refugee camp. In 2017 a Kenyan court halted plans to close the camp saying that it violated Kenya’s international obligations.

Kenya had alleged that the al-Qaeda affiliated al-Shabaab militants who attacked Garissa University killing more than 140 students in 2015 had been facilitated by sympathizers from the Dadaab refugee camp, citing it as the main reason for the closure.

The latest shut down plan comes 2 months after al-Shabaab gunmen stormed the DusitD2 hotel in Nairobi, killing 21 people.