{"id":2857,"date":"2019-05-03T23:02:15","date_gmt":"2019-05-03T23:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/?p=2857"},"modified":"2019-05-05T08:24:30","modified_gmt":"2019-05-05T08:24:30","slug":"ethical-questions-around-returning-dadaab-refugees-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/2019\/05\/03\/ethical-questions-around-returning-dadaab-refugees-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethical questions around returning Dadaab refugees \u201chome\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Kenyan government has ordered the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to\u00a0close the Dadaab refugee camp<\/a>. It has not stated its reasons for this, but in the past it ordered similar closures on\u00a0security grounds<\/a>, claiming Dadaab could host terrorists from the Somali militant group Al-Shabaab.<\/p>\n

The camp, established almost 30 years ago, hosts about half of Kenya\u2019s refugees \u2013\u00a0230,000<\/a>of almost\u00a0500,000<\/a>. The majority are Somali refugees who fled their country\u2019s civil war in the 1990s, or came during the famine in 2011. Other refugees come from\u00a0South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On announcing the closure of the camp, the government said that the refugees would be\u00a0relocated<\/a>. For most this means being moved to other camps, but for some this means repatriation: being sent back to their countries of origin.<\/p>\n

The government made a similar announcement\u00a0in 2015<\/a>\u00a0which led to over\u00a080,000 refugees repatriating<\/a>\u00a0in three years. But violence and hunger led to\u00a030,000<\/a>\u00a0fleeing back to Kenya.<\/p>\n

The 2015 repatriation plan was later declared\u00a0unconstitutional<\/a>\u00a0by the Kenyan High Court on the grounds that the targeting of Somali refugees is an act of group persecution, illegal and discriminatory. But the government hopes to implement the new plan regardless.<\/p>\n

Those being repatriated rely on the UNHCR which, using money from wealthy donor states,\u00a0facilitates their transport<\/a>. The UNHCR says that it only helps with voluntary returns. It also claims that repatriation is desirable when conditions in home countries have significantly improved, or returning is much\u00a0safer<\/a>\u00a0than staying in the country of asylum.<\/p>\n

But some human rights organisations have\u00a0criticised<\/a>\u00a0the UNHCR for not giving refugees enough information and not living up to its commitments to ensure a truly voluntary return.<\/p>\n

Because the Kenyan government is ultimately responsible for whether Dadaab closes or not, the UNHCR\u2019s options are limited to the following:<\/p>\n