UNHCR Delists 14,000 Kenyans Registered as Refugees

At least 14,000 Kenyans who had registered themselves as refugees have had their names expunged from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) database.

Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) in the Ministry of Interior Hussein Dado said these Kenyans were seeking to benefit from opportunities offered to refugees by UNHCR.

Their names were struck off the database following an elaborate vetting of all persons registered as refugees in the country.

The vetting exercise was launched in November last year with a view of getting rid of imposters and issue genuine refugees with Kenyan identity cards by March 2021. UNHCR sought the support of chiefs, elders, military, and other intelligence sources for the vetting. 

The scrutiny came amid UNHCR’s plan to shut a section of the extensive Daadab Refugee Camp in northern Kenya, which hosted over 600,000 refugees mainly from Somalia. Some refugees already left the camp and returned to their country under voluntary refugee repatriation.

Leaders and locals hailed the vetting process by UNHCR saying it will allow youths to move freely and get employment opportunities.

“Every household in this region has someone who has his data captured by UNHCR. So many people especially the youth have suffered a lot. They cannot secure employment, their right of movement is curtailed,” Dadaab MP Mohamed Dahiye said.