The Refugees Consortium of Kenya (RCK), a non-governmental organization pushing for the rights of refugees has urged Kenyans to respect the rights of refugees being hosted in the country.

According to the organization, refuges living in Kenya continue to face discrimination and have for a very long time been mistaken for immigrants and illegal immigrants in Kenya.

RCK legal officer Cindy Adundo said that no one choses to leave their country to become a refugee in another country, and as such they should be treated with respect and dignity.

She was speaking in Mombasa during a training of trainers on protection and promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms for refugees and host communities.

"Refuges are humans like any other person, none has chosen to leave their country and become a refugee here in Kenya. There are a number of things that has led to people leaving their countries to seek refuge elsewhere like war, hunger and drought, some are political refugees running from,” said Adundo.

She added that, “We receive these people are register theme here in Kenya and we live with them.

Statistics from the department of refugee services show that Kenya as at February 2023 is hosting 580,792 registered refugees and asylum-seekers.

A majority of the refugees and asylum-seekers live in camps, accounting for 84 per cent of them with 16 per cent living in urban areas.

The Kakuma camp with a population of 253,884 registered refugees accounts for 44 per cent of all refugees followed by Dadaab camp with a total of 234,706 (40%) with only 92,202 (16%) living in urban areas.

The report states that 88 percent are registered as refugees while 12 percent are asylum-seekers.

Somalia according to the report accounts for the majority of refugees and asylum-seekers with a total of 289,701 followed by South Sudan 155,852, Democratic republic of Congo 54,860 and Ethiopia 32,221.

Other countries include Burundi 26,667, Sudan 10,517, Uganda 3,835, Eritrea 2,682, Rwanda 2,482 and other countries accounting for 1,085.

Adundo said that as an organization dealing with refugees and host communities, they continue facing a lot of challenges including most Kenyans having not been sensitized about refugees.

She said that most people are not aware of the Refugee ACT 2021 which protects the rights of refugees registered in Kenya.

"We continue sensitizing people that this law is here and protects the rights of refugees. Many still don’t accept that they are humans like us, many presume them to be terrorists not knowing that these people are running away from war or something else,” she noted.

Adding“We need to continue sensitizing Kenyans that refugees are people like us, the only difference is that they are running away from war or other things in their countries. If the government has accepted them, let us embrace them."

She reiterated the need for Kenyans should read more about refugees and embrace them in our communities.

Adundo lauded the steps that the Kenyan government has done in ensuring that the rights of refugees in Kenya are protected and they feel safe to live in Kenya.

"They have been issued with identity cards and they are free to access government services like any other citizen in the country. If they want to register for Mpesa or open bank accounts, they are free to do so using their refugee document and all other documents listed,’ she said.

This she said is progressive for Kenya and refugees living in Kenya.

She however said that there was need to sensitize the police more on refugees.

RCK she said has been working closely with the department of refugee services and UNHCR to sensitise the police about the act.

"The police need to know that refugees have rights and duty to follow the law, those found contriving law can be arrested, but their rights must be respected,” Adundo said.

She added that they were also looking to engage other stakeholders including the media to sensitise them about refugees and their rights in Kenya.

The media, she said, has been misrepresenting facts on refugees for a while, and as such the need to do more sensitization on the media to avoid information distortion.