Monday, March 22, 2010
KENYA: Draft policy offers new hope for IDPs
Internally displaced people (IDPs) in Kenya are set to enjoy greater protection under a national policy that also aims to prevent future displacement and to fulfil the country's obligations under international IDP law, say analysts. The draft policy, unveiled in Nairobi on 17 March, broadens the definition to cover displacement due to political and resource-based conflict and natural disasters, as well as development projects that force people from their homes without proper relocation. The draft policy is a departure from the current approach where "IDP issues are dealt with [on an ad hoc basis], like disasters, without addressing the root causes", Simon Konzolo, a programme officer with Refugee Consortium of Kenya, told IRIN. "If there is displacement, people should be protected, not have a situation where people are being pushed back to places they feel are still not safe. They will stay there for a short time, and run away again. They should be consulted," said Konzolo. History and hate The policy, which emphasizes the criminality of arbitrary displacement, also calls for laws to address historical injustices, such as the national land policy 2009. Land is often at the root of conflict and subsequent displacement. According to experts, the IDP policy will allow for the review of existing laws to deal with impunity. "This is by making sure [displacement] perpetrators are made to account... If you make hate statements that might pit this community against the other that action is taken immediately," said the deputy director of mitigation and resettlement in the Ministry of State for Special Programmes (MOSSP), Michael Musembei. The policy also seeks durable solutions for IDPs. "If they were farmers, you assist them to go back to farming. It [the policy] is talking of giving them opportunities," said Musembei. Joined-up legislation According to Fatuma Ibrahim Ali, a commissioner with the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), the response to the post-election IDP situation was fragmented. "There was a lot of corruption because of the loopholes, the sick in the fields were not accessing hospitals, and women had no reproductive health services," she said. The draft policy, through its institutional framework, gives clear roles to stakeholders; it further proposes the creation of an IDP fund, which experts hope will increase accountability as there will be one kitty from which evolving IDP needs can promptly be met. "The policy's success will depend on its harmonization with other relevant legislation," said Nuur Mohamud Sheekh, an analyst with the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). "It cannot be used as a stand-alone document; it has to be harmonized with other legislation, such as government ratification of the AU [African Union] policy, to be effective. There is a need for the government to also put in place a new constitution without delay," Sheekh said. A referendum on a new Kenyan constitution is scheduled for later this year. The draft IDP policy, which will be presented before cabinet later this month, borrows heavily from the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa that obliges governments to recognize IDP vulnerabilities and need for support. Still vulnerable Two years after the post-election violence, tens of thousands of displaced Kenyans remain in squalid conditions in 19 integrated camps, according to MOSSP. The Mawingo camp in Nyahururu, Rift Valley Province, is the most congested with more than 3,000 households. Former IDP households resettled on group land bought by pooling their compensation tokens of at least 10,000 shillings (about US$133) are not faring any better, according to Stephen Mbugua, an IDP leader from Maai Mahiu, in Rift Valley Province. "The problems we have are the lack of health facilities... The other day a child died awaiting treatment. Mobile hospitals are needed," Mbugua, who is in charge of about 1,000 people settled on 14ha of land, told IRIN. Mbugua is aware of the draft IDP policy and expressed cautious optimism. "If this policy passes [into law] it may lessen our problems. The government will have much better knowledge of how to assist us." aw/mw[END]
Monday, March 15, 2010
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) (review of 2009 by the US State Department)
In September President Kibaki ordered that approximately 7,000 of the 350,000 persons who fled their homes in Rift Valley Province, Central Province, Nairobi, and other sections of the country as a result of 2008 postelection interethnic violence, still had not been resettled in their home regions. In May 2008 the government announced "Operation Rudi Nyumbani" (Operation Return Home) to return IDPs in camps to their homes; however, the majority of IDPs chose to relocate to transit sites near to their homes. By the end of 2008 the government had closed or ceased providing services to IDP camps; however, the Kenya Red Cross Society reported that 99,198 IDPs resided in transit sites at the beginning of the year. IDP camp residents complained that police used force and did not offer adequate compensation during the resettlement.
Rapes allegedly perpetrated by residents of camps, local residents, and sometimes by police personnel occurred in IDP camps. In May 2008 the representative of the UN secretary-general on the human rights of IDPs visited the country and concluded that the returns of some IDPs were not voluntary and based on informed choices. In an October 2008 report, the KNCHR found that the government had used intimidation and force to remove IDPs from camps and had failed to provide housing, food, and clean water to resettled camp residents. The KNCHR also found that resettled residents were exposed to sexual violence and harassment.
During the year government eviction and destruction of homes in low income areas resulted in IDPs. For instance, in July police bulldozed homes in Githogoro Village, Nairobi, displacing 3,000 residents.
During the year there were many other causes of displacement, including land disputes and flash floods. Throughout the year NGOs reported that hundreds of pastoralists were displaced in conflicts over pasture and watering holes in semiarid regions of North Eastern, Eastern, and Rift Valley provinces. During the year Karamojong from Uganda engaged in cross-border cattle raids in Western Rift Valley Province, resulting in death and displacement among the Pokot and Turkana tribes.
An unknown proportion of the several thousand persons displaced by ethnic clashes from the 1990s had not returned to their homes due to fear of renewed violence.
Rapes allegedly perpetrated by residents of camps, local residents, and sometimes by police personnel occurred in IDP camps. In May 2008 the representative of the UN secretary-general on the human rights of IDPs visited the country and concluded that the returns of some IDPs were not voluntary and based on informed choices. In an October 2008 report, the KNCHR found that the government had used intimidation and force to remove IDPs from camps and had failed to provide housing, food, and clean water to resettled camp residents. The KNCHR also found that resettled residents were exposed to sexual violence and harassment.
During the year government eviction and destruction of homes in low income areas resulted in IDPs. For instance, in July police bulldozed homes in Githogoro Village, Nairobi, displacing 3,000 residents.
During the year there were many other causes of displacement, including land disputes and flash floods. Throughout the year NGOs reported that hundreds of pastoralists were displaced in conflicts over pasture and watering holes in semiarid regions of North Eastern, Eastern, and Rift Valley provinces. During the year Karamojong from Uganda engaged in cross-border cattle raids in Western Rift Valley Province, resulting in death and displacement among the Pokot and Turkana tribes.
An unknown proportion of the several thousand persons displaced by ethnic clashes from the 1990s had not returned to their homes due to fear of renewed violence.
Review of 2009 in Kenya on Protection of Refugees
Report by US Department of State
The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, its 1967 Protocol, and the 1969 Organization of African Unity Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of the Refugee Problem in Africa. The country is a signatory of this convention. Its laws minimally provide for the granting of asylum or refugee status, and the government has established a system for providing protection to some refugees.
The government provided some protection against the expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their lives or freedom would be threatened on account of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. However, there were reports of forcible returns of Somali asylum seekers throughout the year; the Kenya-Somalia border remained officially closed, preventing asylum seekers from legally entering Kenya. Somali asylum seekers reportedly paid approximately 7,500–15,000 shillings ($100- $200) per family in bribes and transportation costs to travel from the Kenya-Somalia border to the Dadaab refugee camps.
During the year international donors initiated a program to transfer the responsibility of registering all asylum seekers and determining refugee status from the UNHCR to the government. The government also registered refugees in Dadaab camps, located in the northeastern part of the country; however, many refugees had not received their identification documents by year's end.
The government permitted the UNHCR to register and assist new arrivals who successfully made their way to one of the three Dadaab refugee camps. The UNHCR registered more than 59,000 new arrivals in the Dadaab camps between January and the end of November, increasing the camp size to more than 266,000 (the three camps were designed to accommodate 90,000 refugees). In August the UNHCR requested government permission to build a fourth camp in Dadaab due to severe overcrowding; however, as of year's end the government had not responded. Between August and October the International Organization for Migration (IOM) transported more than 13,000 newly arrived Somali refugees from the Dadaab camps to the Kakuma camps to minimize overcrowding.
The UNHCR stopped providing newly arrived refugees with plots in the Dadaab camps, restricting assistance to limited nonfood items (plastic sheeting and cooking utensils) and instructions to locate clan members or search for accommodations in Dadaab refugee camp. Cholera, meningitis, H1N1, and measles outbreaks were all reported in Dadaab. Many new refugees reportedly were bypassing Dadaab camps because of the conditions and continued directly to the Kakuma camp or on to Nairobi.
Despite the policy that all refugees must reside in camps (encampment policy), slightly more than 45,000 refugees were registered in Nairobi as of December; however, the UNHCR provided assistance to these refugees only in exceptional cases. Unofficially, the UNHCR and NGOs estimated that more than 100,000 refugees resided in Nairobi. The government did not provide opportunities for local integration; however, it worked closely with the UNHCR in facilitating refugee resettlement to other countries.
Security concerns, including rape, banditry, and shooting, remained problems at both Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps. Health and social workers at the camps reported that due to strong rape awareness programs, victims increasingly reported such incidents, resulting in improved access to counseling. During the year approximately 249 crimes were reported in Kakuma refugee camp, including two homicides and three cases of sexual assault. There were no reported cases of sexual assault by police in either camp. Fifteen relief agencies followed a code of conduct for humanitarian workers to further reduce incidents of sexual abuse by agency staff in refugee camps.
Other security and human rights problems affecting refugees included persecution of Muslim converts to Christianity, community pressure against opponents of female genital mutilation (FGM), forced marriage, particularly of young Sudanese and Somali girls, and family objections to out-of-clan marriage. At times these resulted in the kidnapping of spouses and children. The UNHCR requested increased police presence in the identified troubled areas, as well as increased patrolling within the refugee camps. Additional police were also assigned to the camps but not in sufficient numbers.
There were isolated incidents of interclan violence at the Dadaab refugee camps.
The government required all refugees to remain at UNHCR camps, which were located near the country's borders with Somalia and Sudan, unless refugees had been granted permission to attend higher education institutions, receive specialized medical care outside the camp, or to leave to avoid security threats.
The government introduced mobile courts to serve the camp populations, which were fully fledged judicial courts and instrumental in curbing crime and violence.
The government had not provided temporary protection since 2004 to individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 convention and its 1967 protocol.
The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, its 1967 Protocol, and the 1969 Organization of African Unity Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of the Refugee Problem in Africa. The country is a signatory of this convention. Its laws minimally provide for the granting of asylum or refugee status, and the government has established a system for providing protection to some refugees.
The government provided some protection against the expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their lives or freedom would be threatened on account of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. However, there were reports of forcible returns of Somali asylum seekers throughout the year; the Kenya-Somalia border remained officially closed, preventing asylum seekers from legally entering Kenya. Somali asylum seekers reportedly paid approximately 7,500–15,000 shillings ($100- $200) per family in bribes and transportation costs to travel from the Kenya-Somalia border to the Dadaab refugee camps.
During the year international donors initiated a program to transfer the responsibility of registering all asylum seekers and determining refugee status from the UNHCR to the government. The government also registered refugees in Dadaab camps, located in the northeastern part of the country; however, many refugees had not received their identification documents by year's end.
The government permitted the UNHCR to register and assist new arrivals who successfully made their way to one of the three Dadaab refugee camps. The UNHCR registered more than 59,000 new arrivals in the Dadaab camps between January and the end of November, increasing the camp size to more than 266,000 (the three camps were designed to accommodate 90,000 refugees). In August the UNHCR requested government permission to build a fourth camp in Dadaab due to severe overcrowding; however, as of year's end the government had not responded. Between August and October the International Organization for Migration (IOM) transported more than 13,000 newly arrived Somali refugees from the Dadaab camps to the Kakuma camps to minimize overcrowding.
The UNHCR stopped providing newly arrived refugees with plots in the Dadaab camps, restricting assistance to limited nonfood items (plastic sheeting and cooking utensils) and instructions to locate clan members or search for accommodations in Dadaab refugee camp. Cholera, meningitis, H1N1, and measles outbreaks were all reported in Dadaab. Many new refugees reportedly were bypassing Dadaab camps because of the conditions and continued directly to the Kakuma camp or on to Nairobi.
Despite the policy that all refugees must reside in camps (encampment policy), slightly more than 45,000 refugees were registered in Nairobi as of December; however, the UNHCR provided assistance to these refugees only in exceptional cases. Unofficially, the UNHCR and NGOs estimated that more than 100,000 refugees resided in Nairobi. The government did not provide opportunities for local integration; however, it worked closely with the UNHCR in facilitating refugee resettlement to other countries.
Security concerns, including rape, banditry, and shooting, remained problems at both Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps. Health and social workers at the camps reported that due to strong rape awareness programs, victims increasingly reported such incidents, resulting in improved access to counseling. During the year approximately 249 crimes were reported in Kakuma refugee camp, including two homicides and three cases of sexual assault. There were no reported cases of sexual assault by police in either camp. Fifteen relief agencies followed a code of conduct for humanitarian workers to further reduce incidents of sexual abuse by agency staff in refugee camps.
Other security and human rights problems affecting refugees included persecution of Muslim converts to Christianity, community pressure against opponents of female genital mutilation (FGM), forced marriage, particularly of young Sudanese and Somali girls, and family objections to out-of-clan marriage. At times these resulted in the kidnapping of spouses and children. The UNHCR requested increased police presence in the identified troubled areas, as well as increased patrolling within the refugee camps. Additional police were also assigned to the camps but not in sufficient numbers.
There were isolated incidents of interclan violence at the Dadaab refugee camps.
The government required all refugees to remain at UNHCR camps, which were located near the country's borders with Somalia and Sudan, unless refugees had been granted permission to attend higher education institutions, receive specialized medical care outside the camp, or to leave to avoid security threats.
The government introduced mobile courts to serve the camp populations, which were fully fledged judicial courts and instrumental in curbing crime and violence.
The government had not provided temporary protection since 2004 to individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 convention and its 1967 protocol.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
DRC: US, UN accuse forces of "crimes against humanity"
NAIROBI, 12 March 2010 (IRIN) - Government troops - the FARDC - in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are to blame for much of the epidemic of sexual violence in the east of the country, according to US and UN reports detailing war crimes and possible crimes against humanity by various groups there. FARDC is trying to rout the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR) and the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) from the Kivu region and Oriental province in eastern Congo, but operations have been criticized for their impact on civilians. "Armed groups such as the LRA and FDLR commit atrocities that amount to grave breaches of international humanitarian law and, in some instances, may also constitute crimes against humanity," according to the UN experts. "In North Kivu, an assistance provider for victims of sexual violence recorded 3,106 cases between January and July 2009; half of these cases were perpetrated by FARDC members," a group of seven UN experts said in their second report on the situation in DRC, submitted to the Security Council on 8 March. Many of the FARDC troops used to be members of rebel groups who joined the army as part of peace initiatives. In 2009, groups still under arms "continued to commit numerous, serious abuses - some of which may have constituted war crimes - including unlawful killings, disappearances, and torture", according to the US government's annual global human rights report, released on 11 March. The UN experts added arbitrary arrest, forced labour and extortion to this litany of abuses. In Dungu territory of Oriental Province, according to the US-based Enough Project, soldiers committed 116 rapes in a single neighbourhood last October. "A particularly egregious case involved the gang rape of a pregnant woman by five Congolese soldiers near the market of Bangadi on 8 October, 2009," it said.
FARDC commander General Leon Mushale told Enough the problem was isolated: "It is the fault of the man, not of the organization . we are dealing with the problems on a case-by-case basis," he said. "There is a correlation between peace and rape," Bora Kawende, acting head of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) office in North Kivu, recently told IRIN. "During war, soldiers here commit collective, massive rape." Legal gaps The UN experts' report said impunity, absence of the rule of law and women's subordinate social and legal position reinforced a climate of general acceptance and tolerance for violence against women and girls in increasingly militarized societies, such as eastern DRC. "The application of the law is weak," Kawende said. "And if a perpetrator is sentenced, the government must have a good jail where he can stay," she added. In Mbandaka, a soldier was sent to jail for rape, but could not be locked up because the prison had been destroyed during the war. Congo's military justice system, the experts said, had retained jurisdiction over most cases involving serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, but was weak and susceptible to executive interference by military or political decision-makers. "The solution is justice, justice, justice," said Esteban Sacco, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian affairs (OCHA) in North Kivu. "There has to be a system that brings to justice those who commit the crime of rape." Speaking at a seminar in Goma, North Kivu prosecutor-general Mulumba Kifulya said arrests and prosecutions took too long, and many victims were too poor to pursue cases or preferred to keep quiet. Involving men The charity, Women for Women, called on men to help reduce sexual abuse. "In December, we held a seminar for 550 trainers of trainers, including soldiers, clergy, traditional rulers and local administrators," Clovis Mulungula, sponsorship assistant, told IRIN. "In the seminars, we noticed that some men did not know the consequences."
At least 1.36 million are displaced by violence in the Kivus, according to OCHA. In Hauts Plateaux, Uvira region of South Kivu, thousands of civilians have been trapped by conflict since February, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said. "We heard from people who have reached our medical structure that there are many civilians who are afraid to come to the hospital," Philippe Havet, MSF's head in DRC noted on 11 March. "They are in constant fear of being attacked." eo/am/mw[END]
FARDC commander General Leon Mushale told Enough the problem was isolated: "It is the fault of the man, not of the organization . we are dealing with the problems on a case-by-case basis," he said. "There is a correlation between peace and rape," Bora Kawende, acting head of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) office in North Kivu, recently told IRIN. "During war, soldiers here commit collective, massive rape." Legal gaps The UN experts' report said impunity, absence of the rule of law and women's subordinate social and legal position reinforced a climate of general acceptance and tolerance for violence against women and girls in increasingly militarized societies, such as eastern DRC. "The application of the law is weak," Kawende said. "And if a perpetrator is sentenced, the government must have a good jail where he can stay," she added. In Mbandaka, a soldier was sent to jail for rape, but could not be locked up because the prison had been destroyed during the war. Congo's military justice system, the experts said, had retained jurisdiction over most cases involving serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, but was weak and susceptible to executive interference by military or political decision-makers. "The solution is justice, justice, justice," said Esteban Sacco, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian affairs (OCHA) in North Kivu. "There has to be a system that brings to justice those who commit the crime of rape." Speaking at a seminar in Goma, North Kivu prosecutor-general Mulumba Kifulya said arrests and prosecutions took too long, and many victims were too poor to pursue cases or preferred to keep quiet. Involving men The charity, Women for Women, called on men to help reduce sexual abuse. "In December, we held a seminar for 550 trainers of trainers, including soldiers, clergy, traditional rulers and local administrators," Clovis Mulungula, sponsorship assistant, told IRIN. "In the seminars, we noticed that some men did not know the consequences."
At least 1.36 million are displaced by violence in the Kivus, according to OCHA. In Hauts Plateaux, Uvira region of South Kivu, thousands of civilians have been trapped by conflict since February, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said. "We heard from people who have reached our medical structure that there are many civilians who are afraid to come to the hospital," Philippe Havet, MSF's head in DRC noted on 11 March. "They are in constant fear of being attacked." eo/am/mw[END]
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