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State Sovereignty-Non-Refoulement Nexus: Towards Sustainable Legal and Political Refugee Regime in Kenya

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The Challenges of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons in Africa

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Abstract

For over two decades, Kenya has been home to thousands of refugees from the neighboring conflict plagued states in the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes region. A report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) indicates that as of January 2016, 593,881 refugees and asylum seekers were living in Kenya. While the majority of refugees are settled in the designated Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps, a significant number reside in various urban centers in the country. Refugees of Somali descent account for most of the refugees, most of whom reside in the Dadaab refugee camp. This can be explained by the continued state of anarchy in Somalia since the military ouster of Siad Barre in 1991 and Somali’s proximity to Kenya among other factors. While Kenya adheres to various conventions and protocols relating to refugee protection, the rise of international terrorism has been a major concern in the recent past. In particular, the emergence of the Al-Shabaab (a militant group linked to the Al-Qaeda) that has exploited the ungoverned spaces in Somalia to carry out their terror-related activities, some of which have impacted on Kenya’s national security. Consequently, there has been increased political pressure for the adoption of more stringent measures of dealing with Somali refugees to avoid possible infiltration of the Al-Shabaab into the refugee camps.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    UNHCR-Kenya. Kenya Comprehensive Refugee Programme 2016. Nairobi: UNHCR-Kenya. https://www.unhcr.org/ke/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/05/Kenya. 2016. Accessed on 25th August 2019.

  2. 2.

    Thompson, V. B. Conflict in the Horn of Africa: The Kenya- Somalia Border Problem, 1941–2014. Lanham: University Press of America, 2015. See also; Kaburu, M. K. (2018). “Regional Organizations and Conflict Management in Africa: A Contextual Assessment of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Somalia”. Journal of Language, Technology & Entrepreneurship in Africa 9, no. 2 (2018): 16–27; Mwanika, P. N. “Kenya’s Soft Power Dipomacy and Strategic Intervention in the Somali Conflict”. Occasional Paper, No. 1, 2015. Africa Institute of South Africa.

  3. 3.

    Mogire, E., & Agade, K. M. “Counterterrorism in Kenya”. Journal of Contemporary African Studies 29, no. 4 (2011): 473–491.

  4. 4.

    The East African. Call to repatriate Somalia refugees. 2017. https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/ea/Call-to-repatriate-Somalia-refugees/4552908. Accessed on 25th August 2019.

  5. 5.

    Republic of Kenya. Constitution of Kenya, 2010. Nairobi. Government Printer. 2010. https://www.kenyaembassy.com/pdfs/the%20constitution%20of%20kenya.pdf. Accessed on 5th July 2019.

  6. 6.

    United Nations. United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. 1951. www.unhcr.org. Accessed on 6th July 2016.

  7. 7.

    Ibid. See also; Organization of African Unity. OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa. 1969.www.achpr.org/files/instruments/refugee-convention/achpr._instr_conv_refug_eng.pdf. (Accessed on 6th July 2019), Republic of Kenya. Refugee Act, 2006. Nairobi. Government Printer. 2006. www.kenyalaw.org/kl/fileadmin/pdfdownlord/acts/refugeeact_No13of2006.pdf. Accessed on 5th July 2019.

  8. 8.

    United Nations. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), 1948.

  9. 9.

    Ibid, UN, 1951.

  10. 10.

    Organization of African Unity. OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa. 1969.www.achpr.org/files/instruments/refugee-convention/achpr._instr_conv_refug_eng.pdf. (Accessed on 6th July 2019).

  11. 11.

    Oluoch, K. “Kenya’s National Security and International Refugee Law”. In F. Onditi et al. (eds) Contemporary Africa and the Foreseeable World Order, pp. 313–329. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2019.

  12. 12.

    Ibid

  13. 13.

    Ibid, UN, 1951.

  14. 14.

    Ibid, OAU, 1969.

  15. 15.

    Republic of Kenya. Refugee Act, 2006. Nairobi. Government Printer. 2006. www.kenyalaw.org/kl/fileadmin/pdfdownlord/acts/refugeeact_No13of2006.pdf. Accessed on 5th July 2019.

  16. 16.

    Riyanto, S. “The Refoulement Principle and Its Relevance in the International Law System”. Indonesian Journal of International Law 7, no. 4 (2010): 731–756. See also; Shaw, M. N. International Law (6thEd). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

  17. 17.

    Ibid, Oluoch, 2019.

  18. 18.

    Ibid. See also; Ibid, Kaburu, 2018.

  19. 19.

    Mwanika, P. N. “Kenya’s Soft Power Dipomacy and Strategic Intervention in the Somali Conflict”. Occasional Paper, No. 1, 2015. Africa Institute of South Africa.

  20. 20.

    Ibid, Oluoch, 2019. See also; Ibid, Kaburu, 2018.

  21. 21.

    Kenya Defence Forces. Operation Linda Nchi: Kenya’s Military Experience in Somalia. Nairobi: Kenya Defence Forces, 2014.

  22. 22.

    Fisher, B. “Al Shabaab in Somalia: The History and Ideology of a Militant Islamist Group, 2005–2012”. Small Wars and Insurgencies 25, no. 2 (2014): 492–494. See also, Kenya, National Assembly. Report on Investigation into the Garissa University Terrorist Attack; Departmental Committee on Administration and National Security. 2015. www.parliament.go.ke/committees/committee_reports/…/1907_aef6a56571ccf836c Accessed on 12th July 2019; and Kenya, National Assembly. Report of the Joint Committee on Administration and National Security; and Defence and Foreign Relations on the Inquiry into the Westgate Terrorist Attack, and other Terror Attacks in Mandera in North Eastern and Kilifi in the Coast Region. info.mzalendo.com/file_archive/westgate_report. 2013. Accessed on 12th July 2016.

  23. 23.

    Republic of Kenya. Government Press Statement and Update on Repatriation of Refugees and Scheduled Closure of Dadaab Refugee Camp. 2016. www.interior.go.ke/?p=3113. Accessed on 17th August 2019.

  24. 24.

    Kaburu, M. K. Decision Making Theory and Foreign Policy Process: Empirical Ontological and Epistemological Contextualization of Kenya’s Diplomacy Towards Somalia, 1996–2012. PhD Dissertion, 2017, United States Ingternational University, Nairobi.

  25. 25.

    Ibid, Oluoch, 2019. See also; Ibid, Kaburu, 2017.

  26. 26.

    Ibid, Kaburu, 2017.

  27. 27.

    Ibid, UN, 1951.

  28. 28.

    Ibid, Kenya Refugee Act, 2006

  29. 29.

    Lindley, Anna. (2011). Between a Protracted and a Crisis Situation: Policy Responses to Somali Refugees in Kenya. Refugee Survey Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 4, pp. 1–36.

  30. 30.

    Mogire, E. “Refugee Realities: Refugee Rights versus State Security in Kenya and Tanzania. Transformation”: An International Journal of Holistic Mission Studies 26, no. 1 (2009): 15–29.

  31. 31.

    Ibid, Kaburu, 2017.

  32. 32.

    Ibid, Oluoch, 2019

  33. 33.

    Ibid, Kaburu, 2017.

  34. 34.

    Ibid, Oluoch, 2019

  35. 35.

    Ibid, Kenya Refugee Act, 2006

  36. 36.

    Ibid, Mogire and Agade, 2011.

  37. 37.

    Ibid, Kenya Refugee Act, 2006

  38. 38.

    Ibid, Mogire, 2009. See also; Snodgrass, L., & Mwanika, P. N. (2013). Dynamics and Politics of Small Arms and Light Weapons in Violent Conflicts Arms Control and its Challenges in Somalia. Africa Insight 43, no. 1 (2013): 61–76.; Ibid, Mogire and Agade, 2011

  39. 39.

    Ibid, Mogire, 2009. See also; Muhoro, N. “The Implementation of Kenya’s Refugee Act: Implications on National Security”. Contemporary Security Studies 1, no. 2 (2012): 27–42.

  40. 40.

    Ibid, Mwanika, 2005. See also; Samora, M. (2013). The Somali Question. World Policy Journal 30, no. 3 (2013): 99–106.

  41. 41.

    Kenya, National Assembly. Report of the Joint Committee on Administration and National Security; and Defence and Foreign Relations on the Inquiry into the Westgate Terrorist Attack, and other Terror Attacks in Mandera in North Eastern and Kilifi in the Coast Region. info.mzalendo.com/file_archive/westgate_report. 2013. Accessed on 12th July 2016.

  42. 42.

    Ibid, Kaburu, 2017.

  43. 43.

    Ibid.

  44. 44.

    Samora, M. (2013). The Somali Question. World Policy Journal 30, no. 3 (2013): 99–106. See also; Ibid, Muhoro, 2012.

  45. 45.

    Ibid, UN, 1951,

  46. 46.

    Ibid, Kenya Refugee Act, 2006

  47. 47.

    Ibid, Mogire, 2009.

  48. 48.

    Ibid, Kaburu, 2017.

  49. 49.

    Ibid, Kenya National Assembly, 2013.

  50. 50.

    Ibid.

  51. 51.

    Ibid, UNHCR, 2016.

  52. 52.

    Ibid, Oluoch, 2019. See also; Ibid, Mogire, 2009.

  53. 53.

    Ibid, Kaburu, 2017.

  54. 54.

    Dauvergne, C. Challenges to Sovereignty: Migration Laws for the 21st Century. Geneva: UNHCR: 2003.

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  1. United States International University-Africa, Nairobi, Kenya

    Mercy Kathambi Kaburu

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  1. Department of History and Political Science, Alabama State University, Montgomery, AL, USA

    Sabella O. Abidde

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Kaburu, M.K. (2021). State Sovereignty-Non-Refoulement Nexus: Towards Sustainable Legal and Political Refugee Regime in Kenya. In: Abidde, S.O. (eds) The Challenges of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons in Africa. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56650-0_4

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