File photo shows Somali refugees walking at the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya.
Amnesty International says extensive intimidation and human rights abuse is forcing Somali refugees out of Kenya.
In a report published on Wednesday, the human rights group warned over the hostile environment in Kenya, saying that the refugees are actively targeted by the police with indiscriminate arrests.
According to the report, named No Place Like Home, the refugees are even denied access to registration, meaning they are illegally staying in the African country.
“The environment in Kenya is now so hostile that some refugees feel they have no option but to return to Somalia where the ongoing conflict in parts of the country continues to destroy lives. This is tantamount to forced return,” said the rights group’s deputy regional director Sarah Jackson.
Last week, the Kenyan government called on Somalia to speed up repatriation procedure of some half a million Somali refugees living in the United Nations-designated camps in Kenya.
The Kenyan government argued that stability has returned to Somalia following successful joint operations by the African Union and Somali government forces.
The Somali government also said it wants its refugees resettled, but the process must be gradual.
According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), about 42,000 people in Somalia sought asylum last year.
Nearly 60,000 Somalis were also displaced in the country’s southern and central regions last year.
Somalia did not have an effective central government from 1991 until August 2012, when a previously agreed upon political transition was instituted.
On September 10, 2012, Somalia’s clan elders appointed 275 members to a new parliament, which subsequently elected Hassan Sheikh Mohamud president.
MOS/HSN
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