A critique of refugee governance in international law: case study of kenya

Abstract

Post-colonial Africa is rife with political, socio-economic and even environmental

problems. All these processes cause forced migration of people, hence Africa leads in

the world refugee population. 1 Consequently, the refugee problem in Africa has

remained a major issue, which still stands in the entire African renaissance.? However,

the United Nations came up with the 1951 Geneva Convention which set certain

obligations that the host states must satisfy. Later, the OAU Convention on Refugees of

1969 incorporated the same and both set out that host states have the primary

responsibility with regard to management of refugees and their protection thereof.

Whereas host governments may be largely responsible for the treatment of refugees

in the 'developed world', the fact is that in a country like Kenya and basically host

states in the developing world, where in practice over the past years, the United

Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (hereinafter referred to as UNHCR) and Non-

Governmental Organizations (hereinafter referred to as NGOs) have assumed the host

state's primary obligation for status determination and control of refugee populations in

camps, they (UNHCR and NGOs) may in practice bear equal share of responsibility

with regard to management of refugee affairs.