Kenya illegally deporting Somali asylum-seekers

[rudy-Diiriye]

Kenya illegally deporting Somali asylum-seekers -UN 03 Apr 2009 14:10:35 GMT

Source: Reuters

* Kenyan authorities illegally deport Somali asylum-seekers

 

* Tensions rise in impoverished region with 250,000 refugees

 

* U.N. files formal complaint but says "no action taken"

 

By Laura MacInnis

 

GENEVA, April 3 (Reuters) - Kenyan authorities are deporting asylum-seekers to Somalia, a violation of international law, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said on Friday.

 

UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said that the police and military, acting on orders from provincial authorities, have been rounding up and forcibly returning Somalis trying to reach Dadaab, the world's largest refugee settlement.

 

The overcrowded facility already houses 250,000 refugees, and aid workers expect 100,000 more Somalis to arrive this year, raising tensions in Kenya's impoverished northeast where human rights groups say police corruption is a major problem.

 

Redmond said that earlier this week, the Kenyan military stopped a bus of 31 asylum-seekers headed to Dadaab, took them to the local police station and then returned them to the Somali border without reviewing their claims.

 

This followed a March 23 incident in which 61 asylum-seekers were arrested and promptly shipped back to Somalia, where rising violence has driven more than 1 million people from their homes and made a third of the population dependent on food aid.

 

"UNHCR has sent a formal complaint to the Minister of Immigration and Registration of Persons protesting these actions," Redmond told a news briefing in Geneva, where the U.N. agency is based. "No action has been taken," he said.

 

Under the international legal principle of "non-refoulement", also enshrined in Kenya's refugee law, states cannot deport asylum seekers without reviewing their claims and ensuring they will not be persecuted or abused back at home.

 

Last week, the watchdog group Human Rights Watch said that in addition to illegally deporting refugees, corrupt Kenyan authorities have been abusing and extorting money from Somalis looking for shelter at the three camps at Dadaab.

 

Kenya has agreed to allocate new land for a separate refugee site, which public health officials say is needed to reduce the risk of disease spreading among those living close together in Dadaab, often without sanitary toilets and cooking facilities.

 

Due north in Ethiopia, authorities have also built new camps to house Somalis fleeing the violence that has killed more than 17,000 civilians in their homeland in the past two years. The UNHCR on Friday said it has started moving refugees in Ethiopia to a newly opened camp some 90 km (56 miles) from the border. (Editing by Louise Ireland and Stephanie Nebehay)

[inspector22]

I support Kenya, southern somalis should stop defecating on their land and later invade neighbouring countries.

kenya has taken more than enough of it's share of somali refugees.

Infact the speaker of Parliament in kenya is somali, the chief commissioner of Police is Somali, the chief jurist of law and higher court of kenya is Somali, the defense minister is Somali, all are from northern Somalia, Puntland and somaliland.

Kenya has nothing against high quality somalis, they just don't like the continues influx of lowlife southern somalis, i don't blame them, they have enough internal difficulties as it stands no need to put more weight on them.

Personally i highly respect kenyans, they have never showed grudge against somalis and have always wished the best for their northern neighbours.

[Fabregas]

Originally posted by inspector22:

I support Kenya, southern somalis should stop defecating on their land and later invade neighbouring countries.

kenya has taken more than enough of it's share of somali refugees.

Infact the speaker of Parliament in kenya is somali, the chief commissioner of Police is Somali, the chief jurist of law and higher court of kenya is Somali, the defense minister is Somali, all are from northern Somalia, Puntland and somaliland.

Kenya has nothing against high quality somalis, they just don't like the continues influx of lowlife southern somalis, i don't blame them, they have enough internal difficulties as it stands no need to put more weight on them.

Personally i highly respect kenyans, they have never showed grudge against somalis and have always wished the best for their northern neighbours.

Why are the mods alLOWING these immature and sickening outbursts from the MR pure Puntlander?

[rudy-Diiriye]

when u see some one who hates his kind that much, its an indication of inbreeding!

 

Plz pple run to the next village to find your partner so u can avoid mom or dad inbreeding selectins and stop producing sick ppl.