Dada ab Refugee camp
World Refugee Day(June 20) was
established by the United Nations to honor the courage, strength and
determination of women, men and children who are forced to flee their homes
under threat of persecution, conflict and violence.Others flee their home in fear of a serious natural disasters such as famine and floods.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) and the Department of Refugees Affairs (DRA) are in the front line in organizing occasion which takes place annually. They mainly focused on the
current state of refugees in Kenya with deliberations on how best refugees can
be diplomatically persuaded to go back to their countries.
The refugees
are living in a difficulty. Kenya tops the list for
refugee population, in Africa and has since been ranked the fifth in the world. In as much as refugees seek help from the government of Kenya, it
has posted a great threat to the security of the country. Stakeholders are called on to find solutions to the plight of refugees in the country and
that there is need for cooperation between government and other stakeholders
and awareness creation so as not to criminalize every asylum seeker.
According to UNHCR the population
of refugees in Kenya per country is 482,390 from Somalia, 32720 from Ethiopia, 43290 from
South Sudan, 8920 from Congo, Stateless are 20,550 and 20,070 from others.
UNHCR will continue to count on the hospitality and support extended to
asylum-seekers and refugees by the Government and people of Kenya. This
includes: the preservation of and access to asylum and international
protection; effective reception, registration, documentation and refugee status
determination (RSD); land for approximately 530,000 refugees and asylum-seekers
across six camps located in Alinjugur, Dadaab, and Kakuma, with the hope of
securing additional space in Kakuma; strengthened police presence in camps;
access to public health services for over 50,000 urban refugees and medical
referrals from the camps; and integration of some 8,000 urban-based refugee
children and adolescents into local learning institutions.
The campaign for World Refugee Day will continue to
emphasize the impact of war on families and place individual refugee family
stories at the centre of our work. The 2014 World Refugee Day concept will
allow individuals to tell stories about refugee courage and survival - as well
as success stories of refugees re-starting their lives in a new country. It
will allow the public to view the refugee experience through different
experiences from people close to home. These efforts aim to remind the public
of the strength and courage of refugees by inviting everyone to share refugee
stories and tell us if they have one of their own. Through these individual
testimonials we can highlight the universal emotions each of us would share if
faced with the prospect of losing everything, starting from scratch, or
safeguarding our family from violence.
