On the situation for LGBTQ-refugees in Kakuma, Kenya – an update
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| Nakafeero Swabulah, local LGBTQI-leader in Kakuma |
Two weeks ago we presented the January UNHCR LGBTQI-report on the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. Today we present the views of one of the LGBTQI-leaders and activists in the camp: Nakafeero.
By Per M. Koch
It is great that the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR publishes reports on the lives of LGBTQI refugees in Kakuma. This makes the challenges these refugees face more visible, both inside the UNHCR and in their collaboration with others. This also makes it clear that this is an issue relevant to the human rights principles outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The UN on LGBTQI rights
“So long as people face criminalization, bias and violence based on their sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics, we must redouble our efforts to end this violations,” Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary General, said on 25 September 2018.
The OHCHR (the UN Human Rights Council) lists these core legal obligations of States with respect to protecting the human rights of LGBTQI people:
- Protect individuals from homophobic and transphobic violence
- Prevent torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment
- Repeal laws criminalizing same sex relations and transgender people
- Prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity
- Safeguard freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly for LGBTI people
This obviously also applies to the LGBTQI refugees living in refugee camps.
The toxic political environment of Uganda and Kenya
It is not hard to understand that this leaves the local office of the UNHCR with a political challenge.
Kenya is not an LGBTQI-friendly country. "Sodomy" is a felony per Section 162 of the Kenyan Penal Code, punishable by 21 years' imprisonment, and any sexual practices (termed "gross indecency") are a felony under section 165 of the same statute, punishable by 5 years' imprisonment. There are no explicit protections against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Compared to Uganda, the country many of these refugees come from, Kenya has been less aggressive in policing their anti-LGBTQI laws, although this this may be changing now. As the UNHCR points out, the Supreme Court of Kenya delivered a ruling ensuring the right to association for LGBTIQ+ organizations a in February 2023. However, this also led to more homophobic and transphobic political activism in the country.
According to UNHCR the Kenyan Government’s Department of Refugee Services (DRS) is fully responsible for conducting registration, documentation and refugee status determination (RSD) in Kenya. UNHCR provides technical support and capacity building. This gives UNHCR some clout when it comes to the protection of LGBTQI refugees in Kakuma, but the organization will also have to come to terms with the authorities.
This is a kind of bureaucratic language that requires careful reading. What the paragraph says is, as we understand it, that given that the Kenyan authorities may implement more aggressive practices against LGBTQI people in Kenya and in the camps, UNHCR and other LGBTQI-supporters can, at best, hope to minimize the negative effects of such policies. This is a far cry from pushing for more protection and more help to LGBTQI people.
The situation is deteriorating
This is a huge problem, because as Nakafeero tells me, the situation is already deteriorating. "Minimizing the negative effects" will not cut it.
UNHCR writes that "LGBTIQ+ refugees residing in the camps have free and non-discriminatory access to services offered to all residents, including shelter, food, core relief items, counselling, healthcare, and
specialized gender-based violence (GBV) services."
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| The teams of Nakafeero and her friends preparing emergency food packages for LGBTQI refugees. Photos from Nakafeero. |
That may formally be the case, but Nakafeero tells me a more complex story.
She argues that the LGBTQI refugees get smaller rations now that they got a while ago, and even the previous ones were to small.
Indeed, this has gotten so bad that we had to organize a special support operation for some of the LGBTQI-groups run by her and her nearest partners.
The goal was to get these refugees a minimum of food (rice, wheat, maize flour, beans, fish, alt, soap, milk and cooking oil).
Nakafeero also points out that the violence from homophobic gangs has increased. In their policy brief the UNHCR noted that:
"In response to reports of security incidents involving LGBTIQ+ refugees in Kakuma, police patrols and the presence of community volunteers have been increased where needed to help mitigate risks, including in the Block 13 area of the camp."
Block 13 is an area dedicated to LGBTQ refugees .
Nakafeero and her friends in Block 6 are clearly not seeing the effects of this. Moreover, they do not trust the police, many of which are – as the LGBTQI refugees see it – as homophobic and transphobic as those they are supposed to protect the refugees from.
During the last year there have been several murders of LGBTQI refugees in the camp.
As UNHCR points out in the brief it has become even harder for LGBTQI refugees to move on from the camp, as Kenya no longer allows asylum claims to be lodged on the basis of sexual orientation and/or
gender identity.
Nakafeero tells me that some LGBTQI refugees are so desperate that they escape to South Sudan. Given that South Sudan is a war zone with policies as homophobic and transphobic as the ones in Kenya (or worse, according to Nakafeero), that says a lot about their view of the situation in Kakuma. Some refugees have apparently made it to the US from South Sudan, and this is what makes some refugees go there.
According to Nakafeero the UNHCR won't help evacuate LGBTQI refugees unless they have a private sponsorship. Kakuma increasingly looks like a prison.
Nakafeero also tells a story about a meeting where local Kenyans told them that LGBTQI people do not belong in Kenya as they are a threat to local customs and ideals. The refugees are presented with anti-LGBTQ propganda inside the camp.
There are those who want the LGBTQI refugees to keep quiet and not provoke the homophobes and the transphobes in and outside the camp. But as Nakafeero points out: "If we keep quiet these people will do what they want." So that is not an option.
