2010 UNHCR country operations profile - Kenya

Working environment

The context

Kenya hosts some 340,000 refugees, mainly from Ethiopia, Somalia and Southern Sudan. Most of them are confined to designated camps despite UNHCR's appeals to allow their freedom of movement. There are three camps around the town of Dadaab, in north-eastern Kenya, and one near Kakuma, in the Rift Valley.

Asylum-seekers from Somalia arrive in the country almost continuously and in considerable numbers. Ethiopians mainly from the Ogaden region are also seeking asylum in a steady manner while Congolese asylum-seekers from the eastern areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) arrive as they seek to escape violence and human-rights violations in their areas of origin.

Following the 2007 national elections in Kenya, which resulted in an outbreak of violence in December that year, UNHCR participated in inter-agency coordination mechanisms to assist over half a million people who were displaced within the country. The protection working group on internal displacement focused on developing a national policy on internally displaced persons (IDPs) and predictable national protection capacities. UNHCR will continue to work with several partners to implement protection policies through the government-led protection working group.

Several communities, including Nubians and the Galjeel, are exposed to the risk of statelessness. UNHCR and the Kenya Human Rights Commission are collaborating on a research and mapping project to measure the situation and identify solutions.

The needs

The political situation in Somalia is expected to remain volatile, driving a continuous influx of refugees into Kenya. To prevent refoulement, UNHCR will enhance its efforts to monitor border points and strengthen monitoring networks among its partners.

As the camp population in Dadaab is expected to increase steadily, the possible establishment of new camps and the relocation in 2009 of some refugees from Dadaab to Kakuma should gradually alleviate the congestion. To preserve a favourable protection and operating environment, UNHCR will take measures to improve relations with the host communities in Dadaab and Kakuma.

UNHCR is working in Nairobi and in the camps to enhance the protection of refugees. In particular, UNHCR will design and reinforce community-response mechanisms for urban refugees with the aim of improving their self-reliance. In the camps, it will continue to work closely with community groups, partners and governmental institutions to prevent sexual and gender-based violence, strengthen child protection and build law-enforcement capacity. UNHCR will strive to strengthen the provision of basic needs, such as shelter, health, water and sanitation, education and non-food items in the camps. Lack of shelter in camp locations is compounding protection problems such as sexual abuse and keeping individuals and families secure.

As the repatriation of the majority of Sudanese refugees is almost complete, and return to Somalia is not yet possible, in the absence of other durable solutions, resettlement remains the only protection tool for many long-staying refugees and others facing particular security threats.

UNHCR will work with partners within the Government, UN organizations and NGOs to advocate for national legislation to include the prevention of statelessness, as well as the adoption of the relevant international instruments.

It is expected that around 13,000 Somali refugees will have been relocated from Dadaab to Kakuma in 2009, with another 20,000 to be relocated in 2010. It is also anticipated that another 6,500 newly arrived refugees of different nationalities, mainly Somalis, will be in need of international protection in Kakuma in 2010.

Main objectives

Favourable protection environment

• Strengthen refugee protection through insistence on adherence to international, regional and national instruments and national protocols, as well as guarding refugees' access to legal remedies.

• Prevent statelessness through research, strengthened partnerships and promotion of legislation.

• Improve the operational and protection environment through improved relations with the host communities.

Fair protection processes

• Register all refugees and asylum-seekers, and increase the level of documentation in the camps.

Basic needs and services

• Provide for the basic material needs of camp-based refugees, including shelter, health, water and sanitation, education and non-food items.

• Support comprehensive HIV and AIDS prevention and care programmes in collaboration with the Government.

• Build the capacity of the authorities to widen the protection and asylum space and strengthen partnerships in order to improve basic services for refugees.

• Promote better access to public services and other rights, such as to work and naturalization, for urban refugees.

Durable solutions

• Use resettlement as a strategic protection tool for vulnerable refugees.

Key targets for 2010

• All asylum-seekers have access to territory.

• The national legal framework is consistent with international protection standards.

• The draft legal framework on statelessness is submitted, reviewed and endorsed by national authorities.

• All refugees and asylum-seekers are registered on an individual basis.

• All asylum-seekers have immediate access to status-determination procedures.

• The mandate refugee status determination (RSD) backlog is reduced by 50 per cent.

• All reported victims of sexual and gender-based violence receive support from UNHCR and its partners.

• The global acute malnutrition rate is reduced from 12 per cent to 8 per cent.

• The prevalence of anaemia in children under five years of age is reduced by 50 per cent.

• The percentage of households living in adequate dwellings rises from 75 per cent to 90 per cent in Kakuma, and from 17 per cent to 45 per cent in Dadaab, and extra land is allocated for the construction of new shelters.

• At least 70 per cent of the need for sanitary materials is met.

• The average of 13 litres of potable water per person per day is increased by 18 per cent in the Dadaab refugee camps.

• At least 60 per cent of refugees have adequate sanitation facilities in camps.

• Measles vaccination coverage among children between nine months and five years of age remains above 90 per cent.

• The percentage of refugee children aged six to 11 enrolled in primary education in all camps reaches 90 per cent.

• All individuals identified for urgent resettlement are able to depart.

Strategy and activities

UNHCR's comprehensive protection strategy for Kenya focuses on efforts to widen the protection and asylum space, and strengthen advocacy that links three main groups of refugees in Nairobi, Dadaab and Kakuma as well as other people of concern. It also takes into account regional and national conditions, such as the potential for political and social instability, the state of the economy, and migration and displacement patterns.

UNHCR will continue to build the capacity of the Department of Refugee Affairs (DRA), especially in registration, data management and documentation. The Office plans to harmonize its registration systems and those of the DRA. To improve reception conditions for asylum-seekers, UNHCR is advocating for the reopening and expansion of the Liboi reception centre.

A training programme for Government authorities will increase the understanding and implementation of the Refugee Act in Kenya. UNHCR will continue border monitoring to prevent refoulement, strengthen access to territory for genuine asylum-seekers, improve reception conditions and provide access to asylum procedures.

The Office will strengthen its collaboration with the law-enforcement authorities in Nairobi. The focus will be on protecting refugees in detention, countering sexual and gender-based violence, and addressing difficulties with legal procedures. Somali refugees and asylum-seekers will be able to avail themselves of legal remedies through mobile courts. UNHCR will help improve these refugees' legal awareness and advocate for the establishment of a permanent court in Dadaab.

UNHCR will help urban refugees to improve their self-reliance. Children will benefit from more effective best-interest determination and tracing procedures, and advocacy for the presence of a District Children's Officer in Dadaab.

Resettlement will be used as a key protection tool to find a durable solution for vulnerable refugees and those in protracted situations in urban areas and in the camps. UNHCR will also engage governmental and non-governmental partners to advocate for a national strategy to address statelessness.

Constraints

UNHCR's planning for 2010 rests on three key assumptions: that the Government will increase its engagement in refugee issues; that the region will be politically stable; and that there will be national cohesion and stability. This scenario assumes that the political and security situation in Kenya will continue to improve, allowing the Government to become a more active partner in the protection of the refugees.

Although the political climate might improve in Somalia, it is just as likely that the conflict there will continue for the foreseeable future, forcing more people to seek asylum in Kenya.

UNHCR expects that some 8,500 refugees will return to Southern Sudan in 2010. The referendum planned for Southern Sudan in 2011 is expected to encourage the return of all remaining refugees to Southern Sudan. However, the movement of Sudanese to other parts of Kenya as well as the lack of infrastructure and minimum social services in return areas in Southern Sudan is slowing the pace of repatriation.

Organization and implementation

Coordination

The involvement of Government officials in registration and verification exercises and in other protection-related interventions is expected to increase in 2010. UNHCR will cooperate with the Ministry of Health to preserve access to vaccinations and anti-retroviral drugs for refugees. It will also work with the Ministry of Education on the staging of national school examinations and the management of the curriculum.

Local communities in the refugee-hosting areas have been sharing their scarce resources with refugees, while refugees, assisted by UNHCR, have contributed through community self-help initiatives. The number of partners in the refugee programme will increase with the development of new camps in the Dadaab region and the need to improve services.

Financial information

UNHCR's requirements in Kenya, which hosts the largest refugee population in eastern Africa, have increased significantly since 2005 as a result of many complex and recurrent emergencies. The increase has been compounded by the appreciation of the Kenyan currency and the higher operating costs of the Nairobi regional hub - which provides administrative, logistical and technical support to UNHCR offices in 17 countries.

The budget in Kenya has increased over the past three years to ensure that minimum standards are attained to improve the well-being of refugees and IDPs. The country budget also increased with the continuous Somali influx, despite the organized return of some 10,000 Sudanese refugees and the return of 70 per cent of IDPs.

In 2010, budgetary requirements for Kenya will support the protection and assistance needs of thousands of Somalis who continue to enter Kenya and who require emergency and humanitarian care in Dadaab and Kakuma.

Source: UNHCR Global Appeal 2010-2011