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Kenya needs law on IDPs - legislator

A man sets a car on fire during a demonstration after police had fired tear-gas to disperse the crowd at a funeral service for people killed in post-election violence in Nairobi, Kenya , January 2008. Julius Mwelu/IRIN
A man sets a car on fire during a demonstration after police had fired tear-gas to disperse the crowd at a funeral service for people killed in post-election violence in Nairobi, Kenya , January 2008
    NAIROBI

    A law guiding the handling of internally displaced persons (IDPs) would help achieve lasting peace and reconciliation in conflict-prone parts of Kenya, according to a member of parliament.



    "Kenya needs a law on IDPs because the way we deal with refugees is not the way we deal with IDPs," Milly Odhiambo, a nominated MP, said on 20 May in Nairobi at a workshop on gender-based violence during Kenya's post-election conflict in 2008.



    The workshop was organised by the Kenya Section of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ-Kenya) and the South African-based Institute for Security Studies (ISS).



    While there are national and international laws governing refugees, Kenya has yet to put in place a law on the treatment of IDPs, despite thousands of displaced people from various conflicts dating to the 1990s.



    "For effective peace and reconciliation, both men and women from different ethnic communities must be able to tell each other 'feel my pain as much as I feel your pain'; women and men must work together if we are to end sexual violence, especially that directed [at] women during conflicts," she said.



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    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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