- Title: KENYA: Kenya police abuse Somali refugees says rights group
- Date: 1st April 2009
- Summary: NAIROBI, KENYA (MARCH 30, 2009) (REUTERS) VIEW OF HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH NEWS NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) GERRY SIMPSON, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH SPOKESMAN, SAYING: "Kenya has for the last two years been in flagrant violation of its international legal obligations to ensure that asylum seekers can freely access Kenyan territory and its obligation not to send back Somalis to the war-torn country from which they have fled. The police, we believe, have been emboldened by Kenya's decision to close its border in January 2007 and we think that that policy sends a clear message to the police that Somalis are not wanted in Kenya." CAMERAMEN (SOUNDBITE) (English) GERRY SIMPSON, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH SPOKESMAN, SAYING: "Human Rights Watch has met with the Kenyan authorities and has shared its findings with the government on these issues and we have called on the government to, firstly, re-open its border to asylum seekers. Secondly, to reign in its corrupt and abusive police officers working in North Eastern Province particularly between the Liboi border-crossing and the camps. Thirdly, to investigate abuses committed against asylum seekers and refugees and, finally, to ensure that refugees have free movement." JOURNALIST READING HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH REPORT ENTITLED, "FROM HORROR TO HOPELESSNESS" (SOUNDBITE) (English) GERRY SIMPSON, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH SPOKESMAN, SAYING: "They accepted some of our findings in so far as they believe that there was extortion, demands for bribes present in North Eastern Province but in terms of violence against refugees, they said they found it very difficult to believe that Kenyan police officers would be involved in violence, either on the roads between the border and the camps or inside the police stations." JOURNALIST READING (SOUNDBITE) (English) GERRY SIMPSON, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH SPOKESMAN, SAYING: "We don't have any such evidence, however it's clear to us that when refugees find themselves in such circumstances like they do in Dadaab, in dire humanitarian circumstances, frustration and the will to do anything to get out of that situation is likely to grow, so in our view, the humanitarian crisis in Dadaab is likely to increase recruitment by the Al Shabaab in the Dadaab camps." HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH BANNER
- Embargoed: 16th April 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Kenya
- Country: Kenya
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
- Reuters ID: LVA9SMT9MSXWFUOE62RXEG43NYKQ
- Story Text: Human Rights Watch accuses Kenyan police of abuse and extortion from hundreds of thousands refugees who have fled volatile Somalia.
Corrupt and violent Kenyan police abuse and extort money from hundreds of thousands of refugees who have fled volatile Somalia, a human rights watchdog said on Monday (March 30) in Nairobi.
Kenyan officials did not immediately comment on the report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), which also accused the authorities of forcibly deporting hundreds of asylum seekers desperate to reach Dadaab, the world's largest refugee settlement.
More than 17,000 civilians have been killed in two years of fighting in Somalia. More than a million people have fled their homes and a third of the population -- more than three million people -- depend on emergency food aid.
"Kenya has for the last two years been in flagrant violation of its international legal obligations to ensure that asylum seekers can freely access Kenyan territory and its obligation not to send back Somalis to the war-torn country from which they have fled. The police, we believe, have been emboldened by Kenya's decision to close its border in January 2007 and we think that that policy sends a clear message to the police that Somalis are not wanted in Kenya," Gerry Simpson, the author of the report said at a news conference in Nairobi The Kenyan government closed its desert frontier with Somalia in January 2007 after the United States helped push the Islamic Courts group out of power in Somalia. The United Nations and aid agencies denounced the move at the time as a violation of human rights.
HRW said in its report that it recognised Kenya's legitimate security concerns. But it said the border closure had failed to stem the influx of tens of thousands of refugees and instead had given rise to the proliferation of people-smuggling groups.
"Human Rights Watch has met with the Kenyan authorities and has shared its findings with the government on these issues and we have called on the government to, firstly, re-open its border to asylum seekers. Secondly, to reign in its corrupt and abusive police officers working in North Eastern Province particularly between the Liboi border-crossing and the camps.
Thirdly, to investigate abuses committed against asylum seekers and refugees and, finally, to ensure that refugees have free movement," Simpson continued.
Human Rights Watch spoke to dozens of refugees and documented cases of corrupt police officials routinely demanding cash from Somalis as they arrived or left the camps for other parts of Kenya.
Although asylum seekers are paying smugglers up to 500 U.S. dollars to ensure they reach Dadaab safely, police corruption is so endemic that the fee does not guarantee safe passage, HRW stated.
Kenyan government spokesman Alfred Mutua said he had not read the report yet and so could not comment.
Simpson said Kenyan police officials told him they would consider holding internal investigations, after they had read his report.
"They accepted some of our findings in so far as they believe that there was extortion, demands for bribes present in North Eastern Province but in terms of violence against refugees, they said they found it very difficult to believe that Kenyan police officers would be involved in violence, either on the roads between the border and the camps or inside the police stations," he added.
The pro-al Qaeda militant group al Shabaab, which controls large swathes of southern and central Somalia, is the main concern for Somalia's new president, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, who is trying to restore peace after 18 years of violence.
Simpson said the Dadaab camps were likely to become fertile recruiting grounds for al Shabaab if living conditions there do not improve.
"We don't have any such evidence, however it's clear to us that when refugees find themselves in such circumstances like they do in Dadaab, in dire humanitarian circumstances, frustration and the will to do anything to get out of that situation is likely to grow, so in our view, the humanitarian crisis in Dadaab is likely to increase recruitment by the Al Shabaab in the Dadaab camps," he said.
More than 250,000 people eke out a living in Dadaab's three overcrowded camps.
Aid agencies expect to see 100,000 new arrivals there this year as a tide of Somalis flee the conflict between the Islamists and the new government in the capital Mogadishu. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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