Resolving refugee challenge is easier said than done

Possible closure of the Daadab Refugee Camp is causing concern, and even panic and consternation. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Western diplomatic community in Kenya and the Somali Government have all expressed profound reservations. The camp has become part of us. Talking about closing it is therefore shocking. Such is the nature of hardcore refugee situations. Lessons from elsewhere in Northern Tanzania show that disturbing a hardcore refugee population always attracts disapproval. Everyone has memorialised this place as the exiles’ residence. They therefore wonder which “other home” you want them to return to.

The UN Charter for Refugees (1951), and the attendant Protocol of 1967, recognises that refugees cannot trust their government’s ability, or even willingness, to protect them. Indeed, the government could even be the author of their misery. They have often run away from state-led persecution. This could be because of their religion, political beliefs, ethnicity, or some other affiliation.