KANERE - A Refugee Free Press
Volume 1, Issue 2 / January 2009
To highlight the global campaign to end warehousing, KANERE interviewed Merrill Smith, the Director of Government Relations and International Advocacy for the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants and the Editor of the World Refugee Survey. KANERE posed three questions relating to the UNHCR, greatest successes, and a refugee free press.
Volume 1, Issue 2 / January 2009
Do we refugees have a right to participate in decision-making that affects our lives? Yes, we do! The rights- and community-based approach of UNHCR guarantees us the right to participate in decision-making and demand our entitlements. This January, KANERE celebrates the one-year anniversary of UNHCR’s publication of a manual intended to support UNHCR staff in implementing the new approach.
Volume 1, Issue 2 / January 2009
Major budget cuts in January 2009 affected all sectors of humanitarian services in Kakuma Camp. KANERE reporters surveyed the practical consequences of budget cuts and examined their impact in human terms. Can minimum rights protections still be guaranteed under the slimmer system?
Volume 1, Issue 2 /January 2009
50,000 Somali refugees are to be relocated from Dadaab Refugee Camp in eastern Kenya to Kakuma Camp this year. UNHCR is coordinating the project and plans to relocate 10,000 Somali refugees per month. Current targets are set to transport about 3,000 Somali refugees to Kakuma on a weekly basis.
Volume 1, Issue 2 / January 2009
A 16-year old refugee boy sustained injuries after he was beaten by a Kenyan police officer on 15 December, 2008, at Food Distribution Centre Three in Kakuma Refugee Camp. The incident occurred while the boy was collecting his food rations.
Volume 1, Issue 2 /January 2009
During 2008, Kakuma Camp saw 3,014 new refugees arrive and 8,058 refugees repatriate voluntarily to their home country. Reception centre serves as a transition point for all refugees entering the camp as asylum-seekers and exiting the camp as returnees to home. KANERE visited the centre for updates on refugee reception and repatriation.
Volume 1, Issue 2 / January 2009
Only 36% of students in Kakuma Refugee Camp passed the 2008 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam. Of the 1,215 students who sat for exams in Kakuma Camp primary schools, 440 are academically qualified to continue on to secondary education. Of those who passed, 50 students were girls.
Volume 1, Issue 2 / January 2009
Of the 1,215 candidates who sat for the 2008 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) in Kakuma Refugee Camp, only 40 (3%) will be eligible to continue their education at the camp secondary school. With the classrooms of Kakuma Refugee Secondary School barely filled, the future of hundreds of youth is uncertain.
Volume 1, Issue 2 / January 2009
Mr. J.M., a Congolese refugee in Kakuma Camp, was awarded an extraordinary scholarship opportunity to pursue a two years master program in medicine at Lund University, Sweden. He was due to begin his programme of study on 12 January 2009. Unfortunately, Mr. J.M. is still present in Kakuma Camp due to UNHCR processing delays.
Volume 1, Issue 2 / January 2009 The Anti-Warehousing Campaign spearheaded by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI), an NGO based in New York, is changing refugee situations world-wide. More than 130 signatory NGOs from all over the world and prominent personalities, including three U.S. Senators, have joined the campaign.