UNHCR supports government plan on refugees

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has welcomed plans by the Kenyan government to allow refugees to live outside camps. Home Affairs Minister Moody Awori said the government was considering the possibility of relocating some of the estimated 230,000 refugees from neighbouring countries to reside outside the camps, where they are currently living under difficult conditions. Awori said professionals such as teachers, engineers and accountants, would be given priority as they had capacity to be self-reliant, the 'East African Standard' reported. He said the measure was aimed at decongesting the camps and enhancing the human rights of refugees in the country. "We envisage a situation where social and physical infrastructure available to refugees at the camps could be extended to the host communities," the paper quoted Awori as saying. UNHCR spokesman in Nairobi Emmanuel Nyabera told IRIN that his agency welcomed the initiative. "We support any initiative and flexibility of policy that would make refugee lives better, particularly on the issue of promoting self reliance," Nyabera said.