A UN report has said the number of asylum seekers and refugees is on the rise in Nairobi. The report, which was published on July 31, says asylum seekers and refugees rose from 430,871 in 2010 to 630,097 in December last year.
The report "Newcomers to Nairobi: The Protection Concerns and
Survival Strategies of Asylum Seekers in Kenya's Capital City" says
apart from Somalis, asylum seekers are arriving from South Sudan,
Eritrea, Ethiopia and the Great Lakes region.
"This presents complex logistical concerns for humanitarian
agencies operating in Nairobi where an estimated 56,000 of Kenya's
registered asylum seekers and refugees are currently based," the
report says.
"Little is known about what happens to these new arrivals during
their first days in the Kenyan capital. Though rumours abound, almost
nothing is documented with respect to this critical period."
The report said the government has begun taking responsibility for
refugee status determination. "It has also ended urban registration
processes and recently indicated that it is contemplating reinstating
its previous policy of encampment for asylum seekers and refugees,"
the report says.
The report said the United Nation High Commission for Refugees is now
conducting a study to understand the period of potentially heightened
vulnerability of asylum seekers after their arrival in Nairobi.
"More specifically, it seeks to identify their immediate protection
concerns and analyse the survival strategies they employ to counter
risks," the report says.
The study will document the logistics of asylum seekers within the
first week of their arrival in Nairobi. "The immediate protection
concerns include police harassment, theft, security threats,
gender-based violence, physical assault, financial difficulties and
resulting economic exploitation, as well as registration-related
challenges," the report says.
The study will look at how new arrivals engage with the governments
department for refugee affairs and UNHCR registration and
documentation processes. The report was to be released to stakeholders
at a conference that was to be held yesterday.
It was to seek ways of ensuring that the more than 600,000 Somalia
refugees in Kenya go back to their country. In a press release sent by
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the conference was postponed due to
the fragility of Somalia. The country has been given time to
reorganise itself before it receives refugees residing in Kenya.
The conference under the gover
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