Dadaab camp, providing shelter for Somalis fleeing drought, Dadaab, Kenya, July 30, 2011. Alex Kamweru/Demotix/Corbis
April 22, 2013
Global
average temperatures are rising, and the weather is becoming wilder. The
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports that climate change is a
factor in certain disasters such as storms, floods and droughts. Population
growth and density, poverty and armed conflicts are also contributing to a
changing pattern in disasters. According to a study by the Internal
Displacement Monitoring Centre, 14.9 million people were displaced by sudden-onset
natural disasters in 2011; the majority by climate-related disasters such as
storms and floods. Hundreds of thousands of others have fled slow-onset
disasters, such as the drought that developed into a famine in the Horn of
Africa. Among them are Somalis displaced to Kenya and Egypt.
Those who
flee persecution qualify for refugee status, according to the refugee
definition of the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of
Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. There are wider regional refugee definitions
such as the Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems
adopted by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1969. This classified
generalized violence and events seriously disturbing public order in the
definition. For many of those displaced to another country in the context of
disasters, however, there is no international legislation providing a clear and
secure basis for their rights and protection. The Kenyan and Egyptian contexts
offer an opportunity to understand what this means for people on the ground.
Between Conflict and Drought in
Somalia
Somalia
comprises Somaliland, which has declared itself independent, Puntland, which
has declared itself an autonomous state, and South Central Somalia. In South
Central Somalia armed opposition groups, government, and African Union (AU)
troops are all fighting for control. And there are many, sometimes conflicting,
foreign interests. Somalia is one of the poorest and most violent countries in
the world. The majority of the approximately nine million inhabitants are
nomadic pastoralists and seasonal farmers. The rain-dependent livelihoods,
poverty, and conflict make people very vulnerable to climate change and
disasters. Droughts have become routine in the last decades. When rain does come,
it often comes in sudden and massive proportions so the soil cannot absorb it.
These droughts and floods come on top of the ongoing armed conflict.
While
most East African countries were badly affected by drought in 2011, the
situation was almost beyond imagination in Somalia with famine being declared
in several regions. It was the most severe humanitarian crisis in the world in
2011, and Africa’s worst food security crisis since the Somali famine between
1991−92. Experts see two primary causes for the famine. First,
the total failure of the October to December Deyr rains in 2010 and the poor
performance of the April to June Gu rains in 2011 resulted in the
worst annual crop production for seventeen years, high animal mortality, and
soaring food prices. Second, humanitarian assistance was extremely limited
until September 2011 due to inadequate funding and intervention by the
international community—and armed groups severely restricting humanitarian
access.
“During
previous droughts, we could live off livestock or even sell some livestock to
survive,” says a man named Yussuf before describing the 2011 drought. “Now all
the livestock is dying, even the donkeys. It is the worst drought I have
experienced.” He is an older Somali gentleman with a characteristic henna-dyed
beard. He has been a pastoralist and seasonal farmer his whole life. He
describes how his family lost the majority of their animals to the drought then
sold the rest to survive, because nothing grew on the farm. The drought was so
severe that normal coping mechanisms were not sufficient. “Before family and
clan members used to help each other, but now nobody has anything,” he
explains.
Yussuf,
who believes the drought and famine were God’s will, says that armed groups
played a role by not allowing international organizations access to people in
need for a very long time. Eventually, he decided to leave together with his
family. However, the armed group controlling the area where they were living would
not even allow them to leave. They wanted to hold on to people and power. “We
had to sneak out at night,” he says.
Can one
speak of displacement in a pastoralist context? The Somali pastoralists have
always been on the move. It is their way of life. According to Yussuf, last
year was different, though. “I was forced to leave by the circumstances,” he
says. It was not like previous droughts when they could still go to the
traditional areas of pasture and let the animals graze. The pastoralist has now
been forced to settle.
Conventions and Protocols
In July
2011, Yussuf and his family arrived in search of basic assistance at the Dadaab
refugee camp in Kenya, the largest such settlement in the world with some half
a million mostly Somali inhabitants. By September 2011, more than 140,000 new
refugees had entered Dadaab. The Kenyan response to Somalis fleeing drought,
conflict, and famine in 2011 and 2012 is a mixed picture.
Kenya is
party to the UN convention and protocol as well as to the 1969 OAU convention.
There is also domestic legislation such as the 2006 Refugees Act. While Kenyan
authorities have delegated most issues concerning refugees to the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), including refugee status
determination, it is increasingly assuming responsibilities. Due to the
generalized violence, the government of Kenya and UNHCR officials in Kenya
consider that all people coming from South Central Somalia are refugees
according to the OAU definition.
While
Kenya insists that refugees are welcomed and not rejected, the Kenyan-Somali
border has been officially closed since 2007. According to the Refugee
Consortium of Kenya, the continued refusal to open the border and the lack of
access to nutrition, health, water, transport, and other essentials at the
border amounts to an extraordinary protection failure, contributing for several
months to excess mortality in the first days of arrival in the camps. The
Kenyans do not patrol the whole length of the border, however, and it is highly
permeable, but the closure forces many Somalis to take more dangerous routes to
enter the country. Yussuf and his family spent fifteen days travelling, much of
the time on foot. They were not stopped by police or soldiers, but they were
attacked by bandits operating along the border.
In
October 2011, the Kenyan government stopped registering new refugees. Those who
are not registered only qualify for the most basic assistance. The Refugee
Consortium of Kenya believes that the increase in people coming mainly due to
drought and livelihood insecurity can undermine the prima
facie refugee
status in the long run.
“It is
better here than in Somalia,” Yussuf says and pauses for a moment. “But we
solely depend on food rations here. I would have preferred to have livestock
and a small farm, or trade in animals, since this is what I am used to.”
Formally, Somalis in Kenya have very limited freedom of movement and right to
work. They are confined to the camps where they receive assistance from
humanitarian and development organizations. Schooling and new training offers
hope to some. While agro-pastoralism has been an adaptation to the climate of
Somalia, Yussuf is glad that his children are going to school and can perhaps
have other livelihoods in the future. “I would like one of them to become a
doctor because health is important,” he says. “Another could be a driver so we
can move around more easily. The third one could learn about the world and
different cultures because that too is important.”
Pros and Cons for Kenyans
The
location of the refugee camp in Dadaab is important. The North Eastern Province
is ethnically Somali. It is an arid to semi-arid region, and has historically
been marginalized. The displaced Somalis and members of the local Kenyan
community emphasize that the relationship between the two groups is good. “They
are Somalis and our brothers and sisters,” says a man named Abdirashid, a
teacher at the primary school in the town of Dadaab. “There is only a line that
the colonial government drew between us. We have a very good interaction. We
intermarry, work for them, they work for us, we work together. They are like
us.” Abdirashid, who is also the secretary for a local environment committee,
has invited us into his office where a group of local women and youth
representatives are waiting.
The
Kenyans in Dadaab admit that there are many benefits to the refugee camps. “The
Somalis are very enterprising people and there is more business here now,” says
Abdirashid. A socio-economic survey in 2010 suggested that, while there are
some negative environmental impacts in the immediate vicinity, the camp brings
in approximately $14 million annually,
equating to around 25 percent of the region’s per capita income.
Local
Kenyans have their complaints, however. “The first effect of the refugees was
that our grazing area is now a refugee camp,” Abdirashid explains. “In
addition, they go and cut trees. This is already a fragile ecosystem. Any
drought becomes more severe here.” The 2011 drought had a strong impact on Dadaab
and Kenya in general as well as Somalia. “I just think it is sad that we have
not been compensated,” he says. “There is all that hype about the refugees. We
have waited. They had serious problems, but now some refugees even have a
higher standard of living than us.”
When
asked what they expect from the government and what they expect from the
international agencies, the answer is first a smile. “We don’t expect anything
from the government,” he says. “There is too much corruption. Kenya has
neglected this area since colonial times. We are second-class Kenyans. Now all
the money goes to security. No money for development. Hopefully, we will soon
get a new government which will help.”
The Egyptian Context
Egypt is
a refugee-receiving as well as transit country. According to a UNHCR official,
there was a slight increase in Somali asylum seekers in Egypt during 2011, and
part of this might be attributed to the drought and famine. Another reason may
be that people wanted to have their status regularized and be protected by the
agency or be resettled, due to uncertain times after Egypt’s January 25
revolution.
“I was on
the verge of a mental breakdown,” Ahmed says. We are sitting around a table
with a group of young Somali men in Cairo. Ahmed pauses and adjusts his
glasses. He has just told us how his family lost their livestock, he lost his
transport job, his uncle died of hunger. Together with his family he went to a
camp for internally displaced people in Mogadishu in search of basic
assistance. But for a long time armed groups did not give international
organizations access to the people in need. “Drought and civil war are twins
that have come together to plague my country,” Ahmed says. Eventually, he saved
up enough money and made contacts to leave the country. He had a long journey
from Somalia to Egypt. “I started in Ethiopia where I met some Oromo people. I
went with them through Ethiopia and to Sudan. We traveled through Sudan for
three months. I crossed the desert. I suffered.”
Egypt is
one of the few countries in the Middle East and North Africa region that is
party to the UN and OAU conventions. In addition, there is another regional
draft convention, the Arab Convention on Regulating Status of Refugees in the
Arab Countries. Article 1 of the convention explicitly recognizes as refugees
those who flee “because of natural disasters or grave events resulting in major
disruption of public order in the whole country or any part thereof.” The
convention must be ratified by the Arab League before it is presented to each
Arab state for ratification.
In Egypt
today, there is individual refugee status determination, which means that each
individual must show that he or she meets all criteria in one of the currently
binding refugee definitions. As in Kenya, UNHCR assists the government in
status determination. “People would not come to the office and say that they
came due to drought,” says a UNHCR official. Those displaced would emphasize
the conflict element. Due to the multi-causality of their movement, some are
recognized as refugees. Others adapt their narratives and are also recognized.
Many others, however, are rejected. “In Egypt the Oromo helped me and took me
to the UNHCR office in Cairo,” Ahmed says. “I told them how I lost family in
the drought and fighting. I have now got the yellow card [the UNHCR identity
document for asylum seekers] and am waiting.”
Dreams and Nightmares
We talk
about life in Egypt and hopes for the future. “I do anything, I clean, I do
anything to survive,” Ahmed says. “It is tough since foreigners are not really
allowed to work here.” Egypt has limited the rights of refugees to work,
education, health services, and permanent residency. The young Somali men see
little future in Egypt. “One of the main challenges is that all of us are very
depressed,” Ahmed continues. “We are in the middle. A friend of mine tried
crossing from Libya over to Italy and died in the Mediterranean. If we try to
go to Europe, we die in the Mediterranean. In Somalia we die of conflict and
drought. The solution is in the hands of Allah.”
According
to UNHCR, more than 1,500 irregular migrants or asylum seekers drowned or went
missing in 2011 while attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea. A series of
factors influence developed countries’ will to accept
refugees, and at the moment the will is little. Several European countries have
elaborate legislation protecting refugees. In practice, however, many of them
try—through visa regulations, interceptions, and other measures—to make sure
that as few asylum seekers as possible ever arrive in their countries to be
able to enjoy this protection. Some people in search of better lives elsewhere
persevere in their journey and struggle regardless.
When
someone in the group says that everyone wants resettlement to Europe or North
America, Ahmed exclaims, “Not me! I need to return back home. As long as I am
not home, I am losing time. If there was security and I had a ticket in my
hand, I would return home today!” We talk about what he could do if only there
was peace and prosperity in Somalia. “I would like to open a garage. If there
was peace, people would support and trust me.” Someone else in the group wants
to open a restaurant and a hotel on the beach in Kismayu, “tourists can come
and sunbathe, swim in the sea, eat, and sleep well.” The young men drift off
into dreams about a future Somalia. In the second half of 2012, there were
signs of optimism in parts of the country following a presidential election,
and people, including returning diaspora Somalis, are seeking to establish new
lives and businesses.
Refugees from Disasters
For
Somalis displaced to Kenya and Egypt, the lack of livelihood options was one of
the main reasons for leaving home. The armed conflict and lack of humanitarian
access played an important role in escalating the drought and famine. In terms
of preventing displacement, this implies that livelihood interventions are
necessary, and that we have to somehow address the complex, on-going armed
conflict. The movement out of Somalia was experienced as forced displacement.
This creates a particular humanitarian imperative to act. Addressing root
causes of displacement is also related to the facilitation of return. For
return to even be an option, peace and better livelihood opportunities are
necessary.
The
Kenyan and Egyptian responses to the Somali displacement illustrate how
the gap in legal protections plays out on the ground. In Kenya, the most
pressing challenges seemed to be less related to the formal recognition of
refugee status. Somalis experienced difficulties in crossing the border and
challenges such as lack of training and livelihood opportunities. These
challenges are probably similar to those of many other refugees in Dadaab and
elsewhere in large camps. In Egypt, the Somalis were subjected to individual
refugee status determination and had to show a clearer link to persecution or
conflict. In these cases, narratives were sometimes adjusted, and many risked
not being recognized as refugees and getting formal legal protection.
Challenges included those related to work and mental health.
This
illustrates the importance of initiatives to address the
challenges of applying the traditional refugee concept in drought and
disasters. Developing regional instruments such as the Arab convention, which explicitly
recognizes such disasters, might be one way forward. While developing new
formal legislation remains important, other contextual factors are crucial in
determining whether rights protection is effective or not. This applies both to
the Kenyan and Egyptian cases as well as to Europe and developed countries.
This essay is adapted from
Somali Voices From
Displacement in Kenya and Egypt, published
by the Norwegian Refugee Council in December 2012.
Vikram Kolmannskog is a human
rights lawyer and has served as an independent advisor and consultant to the
Norwegian Refugee Council since 2007. He has contributed to the Journal of International Development, International
Review of the Red Cross, and Forced Migration Review, among others.