United Nations high commissioner for refugees and status determination imtaxaan in Kenya: An empirical survey

Journal of African Law

Volumn 48, Issue 2, 2004, Pages 187-206

  Odhiambo Abuya, E ^a  

^a MOI UNIVERSITY   (Kenya)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84971512304     PISSN: 00218553     EISSN: 14643731     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0021855304482047     Document Type: Article

References (69)

1. Hernando de Soto, The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere, London:Blackswan, 2001, at 198.
2. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugee 28 July, 1951, 189 U.N.T.S. 137 (entered into force 22 April, 1954) (“Refugee Convention”). Kenya was not party to the 1969 African Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government at its Sixth Ordinary Session (Addis Ababa, 10 September, 1969) (entered into force 20 June, 1974) (“OAU Refugee Convention”) until 1992.
3. Cap. 172 of the Laws of Kenya.
4. See UNHCR, Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, Geneva, 1992 (“UNHCR Handbook”) at para. 189.
5. See UNHCR, Statistical Yearbook 2001: Refugees, Asylum-Seekers and Other Persons of Concern– Trends in Displacement, Protection and Solutions, Geneva, 2002 (“UNHCR Statistical Yearbook”) at Annex A.4.
6. See, for example, C. Berthiaume, “Kenya:The birth of a crisis”, (1992) 89 Refugees 26, at 26, describing the refugee regime as a “tidy programme with few problems”.
7. According to UNHCR, the prima facie status determination modeisapragmatic tool thatis used to provide emergency relief and protection in situations of mass influx where individual status determination procedures cannot be applied. See UNHCR, Handbookon Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status under the 1951 Convention and the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees (1992), para. 44;ExCom Conclusions:No.15 (XXX)-1979 para. (e) and No.22(XXXII)-1981 partII(A).
8. See UNHCR, Training Module: Interviewing Applicants for Refugee Status (1995), at 5–6.
9. See UNHCR Handbook, above, n. 6 at Part Two.
10. For a list of “major” UNHCR donors, see UNHCR, “2003 Donors to the UNHCR over $100,000 as of 24 April 2003” available on the UNHCR website at http://www.unhcr.ch (visited 13 May, 2003).
11. UNHCR, “Global Appeal 2003”, Foreword available on the UNHCR website at http://www.unhcr.ch (visited 13 May, 2003).
12. UNHCR, “UNHCR Income and Expenditure Trend 1990 to 2001” available on the UNHCR website at http://www.unhcr.ch (visited 13 May, 2003).
13. For an outline of UNHCR operations and budgetary requirements in Kenya, see UNHCR, Global Appeal 2003 at 106–109 available on the UNHCR website at http://www.unhcr.ch (visited 13 May, 2003).
14. UNHCR, “Impact of Budgetary Reductions”, 25 September, 2002 at Parts II and III available on UNHCR website at http://www.unhcr.ch (visited 13 May, 2003). In conclusion, this Report concedes that “it will be very hard for the office to effectively and credibly do its work if the budget that is adopted by the Executive Committee is not resourced” (Part III).
15. See UNHCR, “Earmarking Patterns in 2002: Top 22 Government Donors to UNHCR”, 2002 available on UNHCR website at:http://www.unhcr.ch (visited 13 May, 2003).
16. “Earmarking Patterns in 2002: Top 22 Government Donors to UNHCR”.
17. For a further discussion of the human rights abuses that refugees and asylum seekers suffer at the hands of Kenya's regular police, see Guglielmo Verdirame, “Human rights and refugees: the case of Kenya”, (1999) 1(2) Journal of Refugee Studies 54
18. Human Rights Watch, Hidden in Plain View: Refugees Living Without Protection in Nairobi and Kampala, Human Rights Watch (publishers), New York, 2002, 42–50
19. J. Hyndman and B.V. Nylund, “UNHCR and the status of prima facie refugees in Kenya”, (1998) 10(1/2) International Journal of Refugee Studies 21 at 34–41.
20. See UNHCR Handbook, above, n. 6.
21. See preamble to the Refugee Convention.
22. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, U.N.G.A Res 217 A, GAOR, 3d Sess., 183 plen. Mtg., art. 22 UN Doc. A/810 (1948) (“UDHR”).
23. See, UDHR art. 7
24. International Covenant on Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, G.A. Res. 2200(XXI)
25. U.N. GAOR, 21st Sess., Supp. No. 16, at 52
26. U.N. Doc.A/6316 (1966)
27. entered into force 23 March, 1976 (“ICCPR”) art. 2.
28. See, UDHR art. 10
29. ICCPR art. 14.
30. Mugo Waweru, “How we escaped–Ethiopian students”, The East African, 9 July, 2001 available on the Daily Nation website at http://www.nationaudio.com (visited 12 July, 2001).
31. The East African.
32. The East African.
33. This incident was widely reported. See, for example, Waweru, above, n. 38
34. “Ethiopian student refugees on hunger strike”, The Daily Nation, 25 September, 2001 available on the website of the Daily Nation at http://www.nationaudio.com (visited 25 September, 2001)
35. the following texts available on the website of LexisNexis at http://www.lexisnexis.com.au (visited 17 April, 2004):“Ethiopia cracks down on student protests”, The Hindu, 13 May, 2001
36. “41 die in Ethiopian rioting”, The Toronto Star, 21 April, 2001
37. “Police kill 39 students in Ethiopia”, The Independent (London), 20 April, 2001
38. “Ethiopia:students, police clash in second day of violence”, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri), 19 April, 2001.
39. Human Rights Watch Report, above, n. 30 at 11.
40. P.P. Craig, Administrative Law, London, Sweet and Maxwell, 4th ed, 1999, at 430.
41. M. Taggart, “Should Canadian judges be legally required to give reasoned decisions in civil cases?”, (1983) 33 University of Toronto Law Journal 1, at 5.
42. D.P. Jones and A.S. de Villars, Principles of Administrative Law, Toronto: Carswell, 1985, at 234.
43. For an overview of events that cause asylum seekers to flee to Kenya, see United States Committee for Refugee, Worldwide Refugee Information: Statistics 2001 available on US Committee for Refugees website at http://www.refugees.org (visited 20 May, 2003)
44. UNHCR, Country of Origin and Legal Information available on UNHCR website at http://www.unhcr.ch (visited 20 May, 2003).
45. Human Rights Watch, above n. 30, at 11.
46. See, for example, M. Zander, The Law-Making Process, London:Sweet and Maxwell, 9th ed., 1999, referring to precedents as the “raw material from which lawyers and judges distil rules of law” (at 259)
47. D.N. MacCormick and R. Summers (eds.), Interpreting Precedents: A Comparative Study, Brookfield:Ashgate, 1997, arguing that precedents, or “accumulation of wisdom from the past”, “contribute to the development of the law” (at 2).
48. This view is widely held. See, for instance, M. Kirby, “On writing of judgements”, (1990) 64 Australian Law Journal 691 (asserting, at 694, “failure to state reasons amounts to derogation from the right to appeal”)
49. R.M.B. Antoine, “A new look at reasons–one step forward–two steps backward”, (1992) 445 Administrative Law Review 452 (claiming, at 454, “[reasons] enable the person affected to know whether it is possible to challenge a decision, and if so, on what grounds”).
50. See, for example, art. 14 of the ICCPR; paragraph 192 UNHCR Handbook.
51. MacCormick and Summers, above, n. 51, argue, precedents “function as models of later decisions” (at 1).
52. See New South Wales Community Services Commission, Getting it Write: Information for Community Service Providers on the Requirements to Give Consumers Reasons for Certain Decisions (Sydney: NSW Community Services Commission, 2000).
53. Getting it Write: Information for Community Service Providers on the Requirements to Give Consumers Reasons for Certain Decisions. at 4
54. NSW Community Services Commission, Getting it Write, above, n. 55.
55. See, for instance, Mohanlal Mepa Shah v. R (1959) EA 951
56. Chimanlal Motibhai Hira Patel v. AG (1960) EA 388 (discussing persons suspected to be prohibited immigrants)
57. Somji v. R. (1973) EA 386 (on making a false declaration to obtain a Kenyan passport)
58. Prabhulal v. R. (1971) EA 52 (addressing working without an valid employment permit)
59. Parbat v. G. Meghji and Another (1961) EA 540 (on entry permits)
60. AG v. Shivji Naran Punja (1961) EA 652 (interpreting “child” in immigration law).
61. See, for instance, Human Rights Watch Report, above, n. 30 at 36–53
62. Verdirame, above, n. 3.
63. The only statistics that UNHCR published regarding rejected asylum seekers is with regards to asylum claims lodged in industrialized countries. See UNHCR Statistical Yearbook, above, n. 9 at 128–130.
64. Human Rights Watch Report, above, n. 30 at 62.
65. See, UDHR art. 14
66. ICCPR art. 12;Refugee Convention art. 32.
67. Human Rights Watch also makes a similar call. See Human Rights Watch, above, n. 30 at 27.
68. Refugee Consortium of Kenya, “Refugee management in Kenya”, (2003) 16 Forced Migration Review 17 at 19.
69. See UNHCR, “Statistics”, available on the UNHCR website at http://www.unhcr.ch (visited 7 November, 2003).