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Kenya: Authorities Target Easier Integration of Refugees

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4 years ago

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Foreigners enjoying refugee status in Kenya can now integrate into society and participate in economic and social development as per a new law assented to by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday.

The policy shift is contained in The Refugee Act and creates the office of the Commissioner of Refugees, whose mandate is to ensure the integration of refugees into host communities.

The Act further requires the government to facilitate access to required documents that will ensure refugees are legally able to undertake economic and social activities. This is a major improvement to the repealed Act, which while giving refugees access to basic rights, made it difficult for them to be integrated into local communities, largely forcing them to live in camps.

To ensure that refugees are fully integrated, the new law offers the shared use of social amenities like schools and hospitals and ensures that the national and county governments take into consideration refugee concerns in their sustainable and environmental plans.

Until the new law, a refugee was perceived to be “integrated” when they became a citizen through naturalisation or when they enjoyed a legal status that provides for effective access to socio-economic and civil fundamental rights.

The law also envisions that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other international organisations will pay special attention to the plight of women, children and persons with disabilities.

It creates three new administrative institutions that are tasked with handling refugee matters.