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Danish Refugee Council resumes and expands activities in Nairobi in support of urban refugees. The urban refugee programmes have been on hold until now as the Kenyan Government’s plan to relocate refugees from Nairobi has been overthrown by High Court.
An estimated 55,000 refugees in Nairobi no longer have to live in fear that they will be forcibly moved and relocated to eastern Kenya’s overcrowded and under-resourced Dadaab refugee settlements. Their already uncertain future has been in jeopardy since Kenya Government launched comprehensive urban refugee relocation plans in December 2012. The Kenyan High Court ruling on Friday 26 July, however, reverses plans to move 55,000 mostly Somali refugees from the capital by force, and paves the way for urban refugees to continue to reside in Nairobi.
‘Danish Refugee Council is relieved that there will be no forced relocation taking place. The recent months have put refugee rights at risk and jeopardised their already vulnerable situation and uncertain future. Therefore, we are pleased to see that the Kenyan High Court ruling support the approach of Danish Refugee Council and the many other humanitarian and rights-based organisations who have opposed the relocation plans,’ says David Kang’ethe, Danish Refugee Council’s Director of the Kenya programme.
Danish Refugee Council has now resumed activities in support of the urban refugees in the Kenya capital where thousands are in need of humanitarian aid and assistance. The vast majority of the urban refugee population are of Somali origin, while smaller groups of urban refugees come from the Great Lakes Region. Supporting small scale business development and sustainable livelihoods through training and provision of grants are the core assistance provided by Danish Refugee Council in Nairobi and its environs.
These urban refugee livelihoods interventions were launched last year following a comprehensive livelihood study among refugees residing in Nairobi. The research documents widespread poverty, unemployment, lack of food and water, and inadequate access to medical and legal aid as the harsh realities of lives for tens of thousands of East African refugees living in urban and peri-urbanareas of Nairobi.
More information about Danish Refugee Council and the comprehensive livelihoods study as well as a documentary about urban refugee lives ‘Living on the Edge’ is available on www.drc.dk
