International Refugee Rights Intiative (IRRI)

Kenya is host to about 270,000 refugees. Refugees fleeing from the turbulent conflicts in Somalia, Ethiopia, Uganda and Sudan have lived in Kenya for decades. Unfortunately, the sense of generosity which allowed those refugees to be welcomed suffered a setback when Immigration minister Linah Kilimo issued an ultimatum for all asylum seekers in the country to either register or risk being deported.

The offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Nairobi were overwhelmed by thousands of asylum seekers attempting to beat a June 30 deadline set by the minister in April. The International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) and the Refugee Consortium of Kenya protested the deadline, which many of the refugees could not meet for a variety of reasons.

Refugees and asylum seekers were forced to travel long distances in situations of great vulnerability, at a time when arrests and harassment of undocumented persons by the police was increasingly being reported.

Staff of IRRI were in Nairobi and heard first hand accounts about the situation of the refugees.

Refugees and asylum seekers did not appear to have been provided with a reasonable opportunity to comply with the registration order. Even UNHCR was not informed about the registration requirement prior to the government’s announcement and was therefore not in a position to prepare appropriate support mechanisms.

Some of those refugees most adversely affected by the April Order were those whose specific country situation was originally recognized by Kenya as not requiring individualized examination of applications—under the group inclusion process. Many of these refugees have been residing in Kenya peacefully for many years.

Of the more than a quarter million refugees in Kenya, only 24,000 had registered on the eve of the deadline. At the last moment, however, the Kenyan government extended the deadline by six weeks. This extension gave less time than the Refugee Consortium of Kenya and IRRI had requested, with both organizations advocating that the deadline be extended to December 31. It is expected, however, that the August 15 deadline will give UNHCR ample time to complete the registration and accord asylum to those who are in genuine need of protection.

Meanwhile Uganda, Kenya’s eastern neighbor, rejected the applications for asylum of over 1,100 Rwandans and has given them up to 90 days to file an appeal or face deportation.

David Kazungu, Uganda’s assistant commissioner for refugees says that the Uganda government was not persuaded by the reasons offered by the asylum seekers during a recent verification process.

"We were not convinced by the reasons they are giving for coming to Uganda. They are only interested in land,” he told IRRI.

During the interviews, Uganda’s Refugee Eligibility Committee found that only 80 of the asylum seekers had “well-founded fears of persecution.” The process was assessed by UNHCR to be transparent and in line with international standards. IRRI, however, is continuing to monitor the situation of the asylum seekers.

Uganda hosts an estimated 14,000 Rwandan refugees, living mainly in settlements in the southwestern part of the country.