Kenyan rights body challenges gov't decision to close refugee camp

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights is challenging the move by the government to close the Dadaab refugee camp.

The group is also condemning the country’s plan to repatriate the Somali refugees back to Somalia.

According to a statement, the closure of the camp will only endanger the lives of the refugees and lead to their persecution.

The human rights body officially installed under the Kenyan constitution believes that the decision to close the camp violated various national, regional and international laws that protect refugees.

The commission to this effect is calling on the authorities to reconsider the decision to repatriate the asylum seekers and make the department of refugee affairs resume its activities.

They have described the move to dissolve the department as unconstitutional and has had far-reaching negative consequences on the freedoms and rights of the refugees by depriving them of vital resources offered by the department.

Citing “national security interests”, the Kenyan government announced last month that it would stop receiving Somali refugees and close the Dadaab camp, the biggest in the world, by November.