The birth of a new nation is a rare event – and not an event I was willing to miss this year, given my geographical proximity; Juba was just a (relatively) short 15-hour overnight bus ride away from a conference on forced migration I had attended in Kampala earlier in the week. Bus ticket and passport in hand, I managed to secure a visa at the border, managed to meet up with a few other intrepid travellers and managed to find reasonable local accommodation in a city where hotels were fully booked up with visiting dignitaries.

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The IASFM conference held in Kampala, Uganda from July 3-6 brought together a wide range of academics and practitioners working to mitigate issues that arise from forced migration and displacement – ranging from the legal, structural and political.

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While the history of refugees in Kenya informs my work at RCK, I am increasingly interested in the intended meaning of a durable solution. What does a durable solution inherently mean or even include? While the 2003 UN Frameworks on Durable Solutions outlines three possible solutions (third country resettlement, voluntary repatriation and local integration), are these really the only options for refugees? Why only three?

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Kenya’s Immigration Minister Otieno Kajwang has called for the review of the policy hampering refugees from getting work permits. Kajawang says this denies refugees their rights especially after being educated while seeking refuge in the country.

Kajwang while presiding over the national World Refugee Day celebrations at the University of Nairobi grounds said the stringent measures that refugees face while trying to get work permits, is a violation of the international instruments that Kenya is a signatory to.

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The emerging trend in efforts to resettle IDPs has either been the rejection of their return to the places from which they fled or the rejection of their settlement on land identified and allocated to them by government.

 This is in direct contravention to the fundamental rights and freedoms as espoused in the Constitution’s Bill of Rights. Articles 39 and 40 in particular guarantee the freedom of movement and residence and the protection of the right to property. Read more...