UNHCR strengthens mechanisms to curb violence in refugee camps

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) last week launched a project intended to curb the incidence of sexual and gender-based violence in refugee camps in Kenya. "Serious violations of the safety, security and dignity of refugees have occurred in many refugee programmes in the past," George Okoth-Obbo, UNHCR's country representative in Kenya said during the 3 February launch of the 'Preventing Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in the Kenya Refugee Programme' project. Speaking in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, Obbo said: "It is an irony that refugees have fled their homes because they could not find safety, yet they arrive in asylum to find equally acute forms of danger, fear and anxiety." The project is intended to strengthen existing actions to prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence, and seeks to standardise the process of reporting and investigation when cases of abuse or exploitation arise. Obbo said representatives of the government, NGOs, refugees and host communities were being trained in interview techniques and complaint investigation. In addition, he noted, educational materials and videos were being produced and distributed so that refugees and other beneficiaries could learn more about their rights, entitlements, and zero tolerance policy towards exploitation and abuse. Although the programme was launched, the prevalence of rape in the camps had dropped drastically since the early 1990s, when the first groups of refugees arrived in the country, and the rape of women and girls by bandits, thugs and other criminals occurred with frequency and degree, UNHCR said. According to Emmanuel Nyabera, UNHCR's spokesman, sixteen cases of rape were reported in the camps in 2004, down from an estimated 1,500 in the early 1990s. During the launch, Obbo acknowledged that sexual and gender-based violence could happen in any refugee setting where the beneficiaries were vulnerable and relied on external parties to provide assistance and protection. He noted that the new project was one of a series of steps taken "towards implicit and sustained ethical rectitude in the discharge of our responsibilities to our beneficiaries". "The Kenyan government fully supports the adoption and signing of this code today," Mohamed Mahamud, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, said. "The transgression of the rights of refugees, especially sexual abuse and exploitation, cannot be tolerated" Kenya hosts an estimated 240,000 refugees in Kakuma camp in the northwest and Dadaab camp in the northeast.