By Mary Mwendwa
Nairobi, Kenya: Thousands of double registered persons in Kenya’s refugee Camp have moved to a Garissa Court for action on their plight.
Due to the continued failure of the Government of Kenya in 2016 and 2019 to deregister thousands of Kenyan citizens from the refugee database and issue them with national identity cards, the Haki na Sheria Initiative has filed a petition on behalf of the victims in the Garissa court on 12th August 2021.
Haki Na Sheria has for the last ten years been advocating for the Kenyan citizens whose fingerprints have been captured by UNHCR with the engagement by both the Kenya Government and the UN refugee agency.
According to Yussuf Bashir, Executive Director of Haki na Sheria, “ As you may be aware that victims who are known as “double registered” were inadvertently registered as refugees for various reasons, during Somalia’s civil war outbreak in 1991 and subsequent settlement of refugees in Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp.”
“This has coincided with prolonged drought in Northeastern Kenya that almost swept livestock; the local’s lifeline, this has made tens of thousands of Kenyans to register themselves as refugees to get opportunities from the free rations, free education, free shelter as well health provided by the UNHCR to the refugees in the camps.”
Approximately about 40,000 Kenyan citizens are in the refugee database; 80% being from North Eastern.
Bashir further notes that following the mass registration of Kenyans in the refugee data, victims continue to suffer under cloud of uncertainty as they cannot secure identity cards as they are regarded as refugees. This becomes even more difficult for those with children since parents without identity cards are not able to support their children in getting birth certificates.
“Majority of the victims are youths who were registered when they were young, their future is doomed as some have gone up to university but cannot do any meaningful objective because they cannot be employed, run a legal business, open bank account or even able to travel,” says Bashir.
The government has several times initiated a process to deregister Kenyan victims from the database but has failed to complete its reviews nor issue identity cards to rightful citizens. For this reason, Haki Na sheria has decided to proceed to file a lawsuit against the government on behalf of the victims who have suffered for years without any redress.
We have documented enough evidence that we intend to show the court how these Kenyans rights have been violated for years concerning their citizenship rights.
Our resolve is to ensure each and every one of these Kenyan citizens has their identity as Kenyans so that they can live a dignified life like any other Kenyan whose rights are protected by the constitution.
A similar story on how Kenyans face hurdles to get IDs is documented here: https://www.talkafrica.co.ke/why-acquiring-a-national-identity-card-is-an-uphill-task-for-youth-in-kenyas-garissa-county/
