Kenya to close refugee camps; 600,000 refugees could be displaced

The Kenyan government has decided to close its refugee camps, which could displace an estimated 600,000 refugees who came from war-torn countries.

In a refugee camp in Dadaab, which sits near the Somalian border, about half of the refugees – 330,000 – can be found. The Interior Ministry of Kenya announced it would send these refugees to neighboring Somalia.

The government claimed that terrorists are hiding in refugee camps, which is why it has decided to close down the camps. However, a nonprofit organization called World Help warns that the move could endanger a lot of people, many of whom experienced very adverse conditions in their own countries.

"It was with great surprise and concern that we learned of Kenya's decision to close its refugee camps, and in turn, to provide an unsure future to over 600,000 refugees, many of which are from war torn countries, like Somalia," Vernon Brewer, founding president of World Help, said. "People who already live on the edge of death will most certainly die if the world doesn't respond immediately to this pending crisis."

This is not the first time that the Kenyan government has announced to close down the refugee camps. Authorities have previously given a similar announcement, mostly to use it for political purposes during election season.

This time, however, the government has actually shut down the Department of Refugee Affairs.

Gerry Simpson, Human Rights Watch senior refugee, said the government's claim that members of the terrorist group al Shabbab who were responsible for a mall bombing in September 2013 are hiding in the camps is not true. Simpson said there is no evidence that the refugees are behind the mall bombing.

"In the case of the attack on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, and the Garissa attack in northeast Kenya last year, Somali nationals have been charged with those offenses, but they are known to have come in directly from Somalia, and were not registered refugees," Simpson explained. He said no registered refugee in Somalia has ever been implicated in such offenses.

Brewer wondered if the Kenyan government would change its mind if it received more support from the international community.

"The world has to awaken to the fact that we now have more refugees than any time in history, and that these vulnerable people, especially women and children, are the responsibility of us all," he said.