Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect: The Case of Kenya by Serena Sharma

Author:Serena Sharma [Sharma, Serena]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: International, Africa, Military, History, Law, General
ISBN: 9780415507509
Google: V4xiXwAACAAJ
Goodreads: 14867915
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-05-12T00:00:00+00:00

The IDP situation in Kenya

As noted in Chapter 1, the 2007 General Elections resulted in massive levels of displacement. Whereas internal displacement had already been a persistent problem before the 2007 polls, the most recent pattern of displacement exacerbated the extent of Kenya’s IDP crisis.34 The majority of those displaced remained within Kenya, while a smaller proportion fled across the border to Uganda. As the Kenyan Red Cross observed, the conditions within Kenya’s displacement communities fell well below accepted international standards. Displacement camps were overcrowded, had poor sanitation and were rampant with disease. Compounding these issues were frequent attacks by criminal gangs and an over-extended police force that proved unable to provide for the protection of displaced communities.

During the Kenyan National Dialogue and Reconciliation process, the displacement crisis was identified as the principal task relating to Agenda Item 2 (Addressing the Humanitarian Crisis). Once the Coalition Government was formed, both principals assured that they were committed to resolving the IDP crisis. In May 2008, the government launched ‘Operation Return Home’ (Rudi Nyumbani), a nationally sponsored IDP resettlement programme. Rudi Nyumbani has, however, been heavily criticised by Human Rights groups for a number of reasons: the programme failed to ensure the security of returning IDPs; it was not preceded by reconciliation efforts between communities; it had no provisions for financial compensation to those affected; and it was ill equipped to address the needs of vulnerable groups within the displaced population (including HIV affected groups and children).35 Most crucially, Rudi Nyumbani overlooked how high tensions were in the aftermath of the violence, which made it difficult – and, in some instances, impossible – for some communities to return home. The success of the government’s national resettlement programme has therefore been limited.36 According to one estimate ‘approximately 200 000 of the 350 000 persons who fled their homes as a result of the post-election violence had not returned.’37

There are strong grounds to question the authenticity of the Government’s commitment to resolving the IDP Crisis. Despite fundraising efforts to assist IDPs, most of this compensation has not made its way to those who need it the most. Moreover, up to KSH500 million was reportedly stolen from funds specifically allocated to Kenya’s IDPs.38 In some instances, actual names of internally displaced individuals were used to extract the funds. Although corruption scandals have become a fixture of Kenyan politics, this particular scandal constitutes the ultimate betrayal of Kenya’s displaced communities.

Despite the continuing displacement crisis, the donor community exerted minimal pressure on the Government to resolve this issue. Throughout the KNDR process and beyond, the issue of IDPs has been viewed predominantly as a matter of humanitarian concern; nevertheless, the issue of resettlement has clear security implications. As Lucy Hannon has observed, ‘affected migrant and slum populations are the poorest of the poor, and disenfranchised and dispossessed, among the most likely to turn to violence again in their frustration.’39

Whereas donor governments have been relatively silent on the issue of IDP resettlement, much more pressure has been applied to the Coalition Government in relation to constitutional reform.

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