Refugees and asylum seekers must return their passports within 30 days

All refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya were ordered on Monday September 30 to return their passports within 30 days.

Refugee Commissioner John Burugu said he was declaring a moratorium on the possession and use of passports from the country of origin, in line with international refugee laws and the Refugee Act 2021.

Failure to comply with these rules could result in legal consequences, Burugu warned.

He said under the Refugees Act No. 10 of 2021, the United Nations Convention of 1951 and its 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, refugees in Kenya are expected to reside and cooperate with the authorities of the country on issues related to obtaining legal travel documents.

Refugees have the right to be issued with civil, identity and travel documents, as provided for in Articles 12, 27 and 28 of the United Nations Convention.

“Travel documents for refugees outside Kenya are the conventional machine readable travel documents (CTDs) the issuance of which is facilitated by the Department of Refugee Services. »

“One is free to use the CTD to travel to any country outside Kenya, except the refugee’s country of origin,” he said in a statement.

He said the Department of Refugee Services had noticed that some refugees

and asylum seekers use their home country’s passports to travel outside the country.

“In light of these recent developments and concerns regarding the use of country of origin passports, the Department of Refugee Services (DRS) hereby imposes a moratorium on the possession and use of such passports by refugees.”

“Accordingly, in accordance with the 1951 United Nations Convention and the Refugee Act No. 10 of 2021, all refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya are required to surrender their country of origin passports to the Department services to refugees within thirty (30) days. days from the date of this notice,” he said.

He urged all refugees and asylum seekers who still retain their passports to cooperate with this requirement to ensure that their status and rights are protected in accordance with international laws and the Refugee Act 2021.

“Failure to comply with this directive may result in legal consequences as described in the above-mentioned international convention and Refugee Law No. 10 of 2021 and may result in legal implications including cancellation of refugee status and subsequent expulsion from the country of asylum, as provided for by law. Article 17 of the Refugee Act.

He said the commissioner will have the power to revoke refugee status where a person recognized as a refugee has fraudulently misrepresented or omitted material facts which, if known, could have altered the decision to recognize that person as a refugee .

It can also revoke the status when new evidence emerges showing that a person should not have been recognized as a refugee.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 33,600 Somali refugees live in Nairobi alone and the country hosts refugees from nine countries in total.

Dadaab, about 100 kilometers from the main border with Somalia, hosts more than 468,700 refugees, mainly Somalis.

Kakuma, about 100 kilometers from the border with South Sudan, hosts more than 103,600 refugees, nearly half of whom are Somalis, with the rest largely Sudanese or South Sudanese, officials said. .

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