Calling on Kenyan Authorities To Stop Mistreating Eritrean Refugees
We are deeply concerned about the reports we are receiving about the on-going treatment of Eritrean refugees by state authorities in Kenya. These reports are coming from different locations in the country and are indicating that groups of Eritrean refugees are not only denied access to asylum procedures, but also that the detention centres in which they are held are overcrowded and in poor and unsanitary conditions. The health of several Eritrean refugees have rapidly deteriorating as a result of these conditions.
Eritrean refugees have also been threatened with deportation to Eritrea. International law prohibits states from returning individuals to a country where there is a real risk of being subjected to persecution, torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or any other human rights violation. According to the United Nations, Eritrean refugees who are forcibly returned to Eritrea “are often detained upon arrival . . . and questioned, tortured, or held in extremely punitive conditions and disappeared”.
We call on Kenyan authorities to:
Provide all Eritrean refugees access to asylum procedures.
Move all Eritrean refugees to safe and sanitary locations, and enure medical care to those who need it.
Stop all deportation orders to Eritrea.
Please tag the Department of Refugee Services (@DRSKenya) and Commissioner for Refugee Affairs (@burugu_ja) on Twitter/X in our post there and demand that they take urgent action.
We are closely monitoring and working on the situation and will be providing updates and more detailed information as we go along. If you have any information about the situation you would like to share, please contact us at info@onedayseyoum.org