Refugees living in Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya have protested alleged strict conditions in Kenya, which makes them domiciled only in the camp.
In Geneva on Friday, VOA reports, the refugees raised concerns about certain laws targeting them, making life difficult in the East African nation.
According to a number of them, moving across Kenya is highly restricted, making it difficult for them to get gainful employment.
“We are living in an open prison,” Abdisalam Mohammed said. “We don’t have legal papers to move around and seek jobs. We need mental freedom, and to travel without fear.”
"Refugees are just like any other people, any other human being. They have rights to education, they have rights to shelter, they have rights to scholarships, and they have rights to waters and everything," says another Somali-born Dadaab resident, Aden Mohamed Hussein.
Over 80,000 Somalis have returned to Somalia since the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees started a voluntary repatriation program in 2014, but it’s believed many of them returned to Dadaab.
“People are coming back because they are not getting support, they are not even getting all of the small money promised to them,” said Deqa Jeylani Mohamed, a Somali who has been living in Dadaab since 2007.
The government of Kenya has been pushing for the closure of the camp, linking it to a number of terror-related activities.
For instance, authorities said, one of the terrorists killed in Dusit D2 Hotel in January 2019 was born and bred in Dadaab.
The alleged terrorism practices within the camp have made the government enforce strict rules against the refugees, some of who are believed to be sympathisers of Al-Shabaab.