Rights group highlights abuse of refugees

The New York-based Human Rights Watch organisation on Thursday said tens of thousands of refugees in Kenya and Uganda were living under "dire and dangerous conditions" and criticised the two governments for failing to take sufficient measures to address the plight of the refugees. In an new report entitled "Hidden in Plain View: Refugees living without protection in Nairobi and Kampala", HRW outlines the daily problems faced by some 110,000 refugees living in the Kenyan and Ugandan capitals respectively [60,000 in Nairobi and 50,000 in Kampala]. The problems include harassment by police in the host country, substandard living conditions, political targeting of refugees by agents from the home country, and sexual violence. Singling out the Kenyan government, the report further pointed out that refugees were constantly used as political scapegoats. "Kenyan authorities should stop scapegoating refugees. Police must not be given a free hand to prey on refugees," HRW researcher Alison Parker told journalists during the launch of the report in Nairobi. The report also criticised refugee policies in both Uganda and Kenya which confine refugees to designated camps. "This policy raises serious human rights concerns especially for those who have been in camps for more than 10 years," said Aby Gitari, who runs the Nairobi-based Refugee Consortium of Kenya (RCK) - a non-governmental organisation. "There are serious concerns about the freedom of movement of the refugees. In such situations, governments should make provisions to allow some refugees with special needs to live outside camps," she added. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) also has been criticised in the report for failing to adequately protect refugees, by delaying the registration and documentation of refugees who need assistance and protection. The report accused the international community for failing to protect refugees by under-funding UNHCR. In response to the report, UNHCR admitted it was facing tough challenges that have affected refugees, both in camps and in urban centres. However it stressed it was doing its best to provide protection to refugees in the two countries. Emanuel Nyabera, information officer for UNHCR's Nairobi office, told IRIN that under Kenyan government policy, which confines refugees to camps, the agency could not provide meaningful assistance to refugees living outside the designated camps. "The term 'neglected' does not give the right picture. Of course there are challenges," Nyabera said. "In Kenya we are in a position to deliver assistance at camp level." Nyabera said the refugee agency had been intervening in cases where police had arrested refugees. The agency transported them to camps after their release but, he added, UNHCR had no capacity to control the security of those who were reluctant to return to the camps. On documentation, Nyabera said the refugee agency was currently in the process of developing special identity cards for different categories of refugees and asylum seekers, in collaboration with the Kenyan government. This was part of an effort aimed at stopping police harassment of refugees. Full HRW report