Kenya Forces 400 Asylum Seekers Back to Somalia

On January 3, 2007 Kenya forced 400 asylum seekers, most of them women and children, back to Somalia and the recent violence they fled.  Kenya received more than 50,000 Somali refugees in 2006, but said it wanted to send a message that it would not accept Islamist fighters fleeing the recent Ethiopian invasion.  Foreign Minister Raphael Tuju told the Associated Press January 4 that Kenya had completely closed its border with Somalia, stranding 4,000 Somalis who had hoped to enter Kenya.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres called on Kenya to protect the refugees, saying:

border security measures should not impair the ability of deserving Somali civilians to enter Kenya to seek safety and protection as refugees.

"We fully appreciate that the situation in neighbouring Somalia is a serious concern to the Kenyan authorities and that governments have a responsibility to ensure border security in such situations," Guterres said. "But Kenya also has a humanitarian obligation to allow civilians at risk to seek asylum on its territory. Most of those in Liboi are women and children and they should not be sent back to a very uncertain situation.  To do so would be a transgression of the principle of non-refoulement as defined under the 1951 Refugee Convention."

The Refugee Consortium of Kenya (RCK) also protested the move:

Kenya has been host to over 150,000 Somali refugees over the last fifteen years of Somalia's unrest; a laudable humanitarian gesture that has been recognized all over the world.  However, the Government's forcible expulsion about 400 refugees on 3rd January, to Somalia, and closure of the Kenya-Somalia border, undermines our standing in the international community and renders Kenya a pariah state.  The right to seek asylum from persecution and life-threatening situations is an inherent human right, and Kenya's actions directly violates this right. 

Judy Wakahiu, RCK's Executive Director, also requested that people and organizations write to Kenya's Government to urge it to accept the refugees:

Hon Raphael Tuju
Minister for Foreign Affairs
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Old Treasury Building
Harambee Avenue
PO Box 30551 Nairobi
Kenya
Telephone: +254 (20) 318-888
email: press@mfa.go.ke

For more on refugees in Kenya, see our Kenya Country Campaign Page.

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