The Refugee Coalition of East Africa is speaking on the treatment of LGBTIQ refugees in Kakuma camp. They state that over the past week, the Refugee Affairs Secretariat (RAS), the office in charge of issuing Movement Pass and other legal documents to LGBTQI refugees, withdrew the issuance of these documents to between 15 and 30 LGBTQI asylum seekers. RAS claimed the documents had an error on them in regards to the government seal on the document. RAS officials stated to the asylum seekers that the machine that creates the seal was tampered with and printed the wrong seal. Many refugees believe it was a tactic to halt the movement of LGBTQI asylum seekers into the camp and/or around the region. According to several refugees, there are up to 72 refugees waiting for a Movement Pass, and without this or UNHCR issued urban documents, they are rendered illegal.
LGBTQI asylum seekers, both old and new arrivals, were forced to sleep in the cold outside RAS offices (approximately 22) or outside UNHCR offices (approximately 10 LGBTQI refugees) in Westlands, with another approximately 40 in unknown locations, also homeless. UNHCR officers stated that they do not have the authorization to deal with those at their offices without the complete group (those at RAS) and without proper documents authorizing movement. Today LGBTIQ asylum seekers are still at RAS offices or living elsewhere outside, stranded, as they have no legal options for housing.
The Refugee Coalition of East Africa
The LGBTQI asylum seekers in Kakuma are both new arrivals from Uganda and those who registered earlier in the year but have yet to have proper processing of the documents needed to commute to or live in the camp. There have been repeated allegations that the Kakuma camp manager does not want to house LGBTQI asylum seekers or refugees. Outside and inside the camps, there are regular occurances of discrimination and constant threats of violence, including rumors that there are locals who are calling for a group to storm the LGBTQI area. More than once, a crowd of local citizens has gathered to mock and threaten the refugees. One refugee told a RefCEA representative, “What does UNHCR want us to do and what plans do they have for us? Because we are hopeless, homeless and scared of what is going to happen to us.”
Under local law, UNHCR officials do not handle initial refugee registration and legal movement documents must be issued by RAS (as an institution of the local Kenyan government), and as such the cases of these LGBTIQ asylum seekers and refugees are not being addressed. Registration cannot proceed without action from Kenyan authorities. **
UNHCR responded to RefCEA with the statement below.
UNHCR confirms that a group of refugees and asylum-seekers staged a peaceful protest last week in the Kakuma reception centre, asking for LGBTI persons to be registered and protected.
There has been no official communication from the Government of Kenya indicating that LGBTI asylum-seekers are being denied registration. We have approached the local authorities to discuss the issue and have confirmed that they are trying to sort out technical problems, including related to registration. We will continue to follow up with the authorities.
While RAS is the agency in charge of refugee management in Kenya, UNHCR works in coordination with the Government of Kenya to support and protect the nearly 500,000 refugees currently living in country.
It is important to note that Kenya continues to be the only country in the region which allows asylum application based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. While we acknowledge that LGBTI refugees may face challenges, a number of them live in and around Nairobi and have become part of the communities they live in, largely without incident.
We continue to advocate for long-term protection solutions for LGBTI refugees and asylum-seekers, as we do for all refugees in Kenya, and in particular those who are especially vulnerable such as refugees with disabilities and survivors of gender-based violence, and torture.
While we understand that resettlement is the solution they have previously said they favour the most, it is important to keep in mind that the number of resettlement places currently available is very limited. Less than 55,000 resettlement places are available worldwide while UNHCR estimates at 1.4 million the number of refugees in need of resettlement.
The final decision on who is resettled does not rest with UNHCR. While UNHCR identifies vulnerable refugees to be submitted for resettlement, the quotas and final decisions on admission are made by States. The resettlement process can take time, which is also why community-based solutions, allowing LGBTI members to live in the community in Kenya, where they feel safe to do so, are so essential. We also advocate for increased self-reliance and are doing utmost to help vulnerable refugees, whether they have an LGBT or not, access to more livelihood opportunities.
We also encourage people who wish to support LGBTI refugees to advocate with resettlement countries so those eligible can be relocated as soon as possible.
The RefCEA Secretariat states:
As a registered organization only authorized to provide assistance to registered refugees, our hands are tied. RefCEA envisions a unified, empowered, and self-reliant LGBTQI refugee community in Kenya which is protected and supported in all pertinent matters, but given the government’s refusal to provide documentation, they have put up purposeful obstacles making it impossible to effectively carry out this mission and help our fellows. We call strongly upon officials at RAS to process the legal documents necessary for the movement, safety, and protection of our fellows. We have little doubt of the correlation between the sexual identity/orientation of these refugees and the fact that they are left out in the streets, abandoned.
