Security Stepped Up After LGBTIQA+ Attacks at Kenya Refugee Camp
Security will be increased to protect LGBTIQA+ people living at Kakuma camp in northwestern Kenya, a UN official has said, following the death of a gay man who was set alight in the latest attack targeting sexual minorities. The 32-year-old Ugandan died in a Nairobi hospital where he and another gay refugee were being treated for burns sustained in the March 15, 2021 attack. The UNHCR, which runs the Kakuma camp in northwestern Kenya, said Kenyan police were still investigating the incident. There have been no arrests so far. The attack comes amid calls by the Kenyan government to close Kenya's largest refugee camps - Kakuma and Dadaab - citing national security threats posed by some of the refugees, including past terror attacks that have been linked to accomplices of the Somali-based Al-Shabaab militant group within the camps.
InFocus
-
The government has given the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees a 14-day ultimatum to ensure closure of the facilities which collectively host over 500,000 people, failing which it plans to transport the refugees to the border with Somalia. The government is citing national security threats posed by some of the refugees, including past terror attacks that have been linked to accomplices of the Somali-based Al-Shabaab militant group within the camps. Officials have said Kenya can no longer
Read more »
-
The World Food Programme (WFP) needs U.S.$57 million to continue providing food and nutrition assistance to the country's 435,000-strong refugee population between January and June of next year. The WFP says most refugee families rely solely on food it provides to survive and by March it will have fully depleted its food stocks. The organisation says that without invigorated funding, it will be forced to completely halt all cash transfers, beginning in January.
Read more »
-
Today there are more than 70 million people around the world who have been forced from their homes. As crises get more prolonged, the only home that entire generations know, are refugee camps. With more than 186,000 residents, Kakuma refugee camp and Kalobeyei settlement located in the arid desert of north-western Kenya is one such place. The stories we hear about them often show us their unsurmountable challenges, but life in the camps is more than scrambling for food and waiting for a better
Read more »
Kakuma refugee camp (file photo).
