Nairobi, 27th May, 2010 - Kenya’s Private sector has been asked to strive and be at the forefront of mirroring the country’s ethnic diversity in its employment.
National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) Chairman, Dr Mzalendo Kibunja expressed his organisation’s commitment to working with the private sector towards building a cohesive and harmonious country.
“”It is important for everyone to realise that national cohesion is for all Kenyans because if Kenya burns, then the private sector will not be spared, it will also burn,” said Kibunja, who was addressing a Government Score-card on Agenda 4 and National Cohesion business leaders Forum that was organised by the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) and supported by the Business Advocacy Fund.
He warned that NCIC will soon start publishing the names of those perpetuating undermined or contributed towards undermining good ethnic relations, or who are involved in ethnic discrimination in the countries leading newspapers “We are planning to start publishing the names of those going against the grain of the nation in terms of spreading tribal animosity. Our ultimate goal as a Commission is to make Kenya a harmonious and united society.”
Speaking during the Forum, South Consultant’s Senior Researcher Mr. Joshua Kivuva expressed regret that threats against potential witnesses in Post Election Violence cases are on increase yet no action is being taken against those involved.
“The absence of a government-led witness protection programme is disillusioning witnesses a lot. There are even reports of some people manipulating witnesses.
This explains why there is a lot of support for prosecution through International Criminal Court (ICC),” said Kivuva.
He noted that the Government’s performance rating on Internally Displaced Persons had greatly improved – from 43 per cent in 2008 to 51 per cent 2010. “There is some improvement in how communities are getting along with others. In 2008 23 per cent reported they had difficulties getting along with others; while only 12 per cent reported this difficulty in February 2010,” he stated, adding that discrimination on the basis of ethnicity is declining.
Kivuva said the Government had made marked improvements with regard to the protection of the rights of the media; giving IDP’s financial support; and respecting human rights. He however noted that Kenyans are still unhappy with the high rates of corruption and the unending political conflicts in the country.
He further said that passing of the Constitution would be a major plus for the Government.
Kibunja warned the local vernacular radio stations against promulgating hate speech which would lead the country back to where it was after the 2007 elections. “We will not allow media stations to continue profiteering from spewing hate speech.”
Friday, May 28, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Kenya on the spot over IDPs
IDPs Kenya
May 19, 2010
By Francis Mureithi
The government has been accused of failing to assess the needs of persons who were displaced during the 2008 post election violence.
Though the government managed to resettle about 200,000 Internally Displaced Persons in the course of 2009, it failed to conduct needs assessment hence violating the rights of most of the IDPs, says a Geneva based international organization.
“During the year, the government made no significant effort to profile or assess the needs of populations displaced by conflict or violence,” the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) has said in a report released on Tuesday titled Global Overview of Trends and Developments in 2009.
IDMC which was established by Norwegian Refugee Council monitors conflict-induced internal displacement worldwide and releases annual reports on every country assessed.
On Kenya, IDMC notes that IDPs who have returned to their homes have been unable to rebuild their lives for lack of proper reconciliation between communities which fought after the disputed 2007 elections.
“The government forced IDPs to return even though the situation that gave rise to their displacement had not been properly addressed,” reads part of the report. The agency says this has prevented progress towards durable solutions to the conflict.
It adds that despite government claims that the majority of IDPs had been resettled, a substantial number were still living in camps and with host communities at the end of 2009.
The report also points out that most of the women IDPs and children were exposed to rape and sexual violence. The centre says the government closed some camps and forced the IDPs to return to their homes yet conditions were not conducive for the displaced to return to their homes.
The report says that Kenya has still a long way to go in finding durable solutions for IDPs, despite ratifying the Pact on Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region and signing the Kampala Convention in 2009.
The report covers 54 countries, 21 of them being in Africa. In total IDMC says 6.8 million people were forced to flee their homes in 2009, bringing the total number of displaced people around the world to 27.1 million by year-end.
This is the highest figure since the mid 1990s. Eight countries have been cited as where most of the displacements occurred as a result of armed conflict.
They are Pakistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Somalia, the Philippines, Colombia, Sri Lanka and Ethiopia. In Africa alone, there is estimated 11.6 million IDPs representing more than 40 per cent of the world’s total IDP population.
Sudan had the largest internally displaced population in Africa with about 4.9 million IDPs, followed by DRC with 1.9 million and Somalia with 1.5 million.
Ends/..
Kenya on the spot over IDPs
May 19, 2010
By Francis Mureithi
The government has been accused of failing to assess the needs of persons who were displaced during the 2008 post election violence.
Though the government managed to resettle about 200,000 Internally Displaced Persons in the course of 2009, it failed to conduct needs assessment hence violating the rights of most of the IDPs, says a Geneva based international organization.
“During the year, the government made no significant effort to profile or assess the needs of populations displaced by conflict or violence,” the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) has said in a report released on Tuesday titled Global Overview of Trends and Developments in 2009.
IDMC which was established by Norwegian Refugee Council monitors conflict-induced internal displacement worldwide and releases annual reports on every country assessed.
On Kenya, IDMC notes that IDPs who have returned to their homes have been unable to rebuild their lives for lack of proper reconciliation between communities which fought after the disputed 2007 elections.
“The government forced IDPs to return even though the situation that gave rise to their displacement had not been properly addressed,” reads part of the report. The agency says this has prevented progress towards durable solutions to the conflict.
It adds that despite government claims that the majority of IDPs had been resettled, a substantial number were still living in camps and with host communities at the end of 2009.
The report also points out that most of the women IDPs and children were exposed to rape and sexual violence. The centre says the government closed some camps and forced the IDPs to return to their homes yet conditions were not conducive for the displaced to return to their homes.
The report says that Kenya has still a long way to go in finding durable solutions for IDPs, despite ratifying the Pact on Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region and signing the Kampala Convention in 2009.
The report covers 54 countries, 21 of them being in Africa. In total IDMC says 6.8 million people were forced to flee their homes in 2009, bringing the total number of displaced people around the world to 27.1 million by year-end.
This is the highest figure since the mid 1990s. Eight countries have been cited as where most of the displacements occurred as a result of armed conflict.
They are Pakistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Somalia, the Philippines, Colombia, Sri Lanka and Ethiopia. In Africa alone, there is estimated 11.6 million IDPs representing more than 40 per cent of the world’s total IDP population.
Sudan had the largest internally displaced population in Africa with about 4.9 million IDPs, followed by DRC with 1.9 million and Somalia with 1.5 million.
Ends/..
Kenya on the spot over IDPs
SOMALIA: Puntland helps IDPs integrate, learn skills
NAIROBI, 27 May 2010 (IRIN) - Authorities in Somalia's self-declared autonomous region of Puntland are offering hundreds of internally displaced persons (IDPs) skills training in a bid to integrate the growing influx of displaced, officials said. "We started with 250 people selected from the [IDP] camps and the host community and we are training them for four months," said Mohamed Said, head of DANDOR, a local NGO implementing the training in Bosasso, Puntland's commercial capital. Said told IRIN that 80 percent of the trainees were IDPs and the rest from the host community. "We had to add some members of the host community because some of them are as needy as the displaced." He said subjects included tailoring, welding, plumbing and electrical services, tie-dye and incense-making, some taught by IDPs. In the past 20 years of civil strife in south-central Somalia, thousands of IDPs fleeing the violence have settled in Puntland. There are an estimated 28,000 displaced persons in Bosasso, according to the UN. Tthe participants were selected with the help of the IDPs themselves and Bosasso local authorities. "Of the total number of trainees, 146 are women and 104 are men," Said told IRIN. UN Development Programme Somalia was funding the project. "We will continue and expand depending on funding," he added. Barni Awil Nur has been an IDP in Bossaso for more than three years. The mother of two is learning how to tie-dye clothes and said the training was a "Godsend". Nur said: "I have been here for a long time and I don't know if I am going anywhere else any time soon. This gives me an opportunity to earn my living. I don't have to wash other people's clothes or clean their homes." Abdullahi Ahmed, from Merka, has been in Bosasso for a year. "Until I got this offer to train here, I was a porter in the market. It is not an easy job and you don't always get work. There are too many porters." Ahmed is being trained as a welder. "As soon as I complete the course, I want to start a welding business with some friends." Said of DANDOR said once the trainees complete their training, they will be provided with a starter toolkit to enable them to begin working. Abdulkadir Yusuf Dahir, the deputy mayor of Bosasso, who launched the training, said the city was determined to help integrate the displaced into the community but needed help in doing so. "This training is a good start but we need much more like it if we are going to succeed," Dahir said. He urged aid agencies to help Bosasso deal with the growing influx of displaced by "giving them skills that will enable them to be productive and reduce their dependency on handouts".
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
27 million people living as IDPs globally
At the end of 2009, the number of people internally displaced by conflict, generalised violence or human rights violations across the world stood at approximately 27.1 million. This figure represented an increase of over a million people compared with the 26 million IDPs estimated for 2008 and also for 2007.
Over half of the world’s internally displaced people (IDPs) were in five countries: Sudan, Colombia, Iraq, DRC and Somalia. The region with most IDPs was Africa, with 11.6 million.
This is according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) in its 2010 report titled Global Overview of Trends and Developments in 2009.
IDMC which was established by Norwegian Refugee Council monitors conflict-induced internal displacement worldwide and releases annual reports on every country assessed.
In 2009, IDMC monitored internal displacement in 21 African countries. There were an estimated 11.6 million IDPs in these countries, representing more than 40 per cent of the world’s total IDP population. As in previous years, Sudan had the largest internally displaced population in Africa with about 4.9 million IDPs, followed by DRC with 1.9 million and Somalia with 1.5 million.
Internal displacement in 2009 resulted from ongoing internal armed conflict, generalised violence, human rights violations, and inter-communal tensions that flared up over limited natural resources, including between pastoralists and sedentary farmers, and over political, social, and economic advantages.
The highest number of new displacements in 2009 was reported in DRC with over one million new IDPs (the country’s highest rate of new displacement since 2004), followed by Sudan with 530,000, Somalia with 400,000 and Ethiopia with an estimated 200,000. New displacements were also reported in CAR, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Zimbabwe
Over half of the world’s internally displaced people (IDPs) were in five countries: Sudan, Colombia, Iraq, DRC and Somalia. The region with most IDPs was Africa, with 11.6 million.
This is according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) in its 2010 report titled Global Overview of Trends and Developments in 2009.
IDMC which was established by Norwegian Refugee Council monitors conflict-induced internal displacement worldwide and releases annual reports on every country assessed.
In 2009, IDMC monitored internal displacement in 21 African countries. There were an estimated 11.6 million IDPs in these countries, representing more than 40 per cent of the world’s total IDP population. As in previous years, Sudan had the largest internally displaced population in Africa with about 4.9 million IDPs, followed by DRC with 1.9 million and Somalia with 1.5 million.
Internal displacement in 2009 resulted from ongoing internal armed conflict, generalised violence, human rights violations, and inter-communal tensions that flared up over limited natural resources, including between pastoralists and sedentary farmers, and over political, social, and economic advantages.
The highest number of new displacements in 2009 was reported in DRC with over one million new IDPs (the country’s highest rate of new displacement since 2004), followed by Sudan with 530,000, Somalia with 400,000 and Ethiopia with an estimated 200,000. New displacements were also reported in CAR, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Zimbabwe
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