Structural violence and encampment policy in Kenya: the case of urban refugees in Nairobi metropolitan region
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Date
2024-10
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Kenyatta University
Abstract
Persons fleeing their countries of origin due to violence, insecurity or effects of climate change remain a critical issue in contemporary international relations. Reasons for their forcible migration, their human conditions and security concerns are issues of interest on the global arena. Kenya has been recognized as a destination and transit point for refugees because of conflicts in her neighboring countries and her porous borders. As a response to its security concerns, while conscious of its obligation to international norms, Kenya adopted the encampment policy which requires refugees to reside in designated refugee camps. Scholarships and human rights advocacies have interrogated this policy in relation to Kenya’s commitment to international human rights norms, the human rights of refugees residing within camps and in relation to the country’s security concerns. While seeking to situate the question of refugees at the centre of international relations theorizing, this study diverted from existing scholarly trends by interrogating how the policy is a product of global structures and how these structures in turn contribute to vulnerabilities of urban refugees. It did this by first exposing contextual realities of urban refugees in Nairobi metropolitan, then examining existing policy and legal frameworks for the management of refugee affairs and exploring global level factors associated with vulnerabilities of urban refugees in Nairobi. The study was framed within structural model of international relations. The research design adopted was exploratory design. The information was qualitative obtained through focus group discussions, key informant interviews and observations conducted among urban refugees residing in Nairobi metropolitan as well as persons and institutions involved in the management of refugee affairs in Kenya. The study had a total of 110 respondents who were selected through purposive sampling with respect to the category of respondents known to have authoritative information on the subject under study and snowballing for urban refugees as a number of them would rather remain discreet for fear of identification by security agents. Data was analyzed through thematic analysis where recurring themes or patterns were identified and categorized. Findings were then framed within international relations theories and discourses so as to explain how vulnerabilities of refugees as structural issues fit within international relations structuration. The study found out that structural vulnerabilities of urban refugees are a product of global systems which produce state level policies such as the encampment policy in Kenya. These policies then generate and sustain vulnerabilities of urban refugees. This study concluded that encampment policy in Kenya is an aspect of global structures. The conditions resulting from these structures have been interpreted as structural violence rooted in global structures, such as socioeconomic, political and ideological elements. Urban refugees and their conditions are victims of global structures and interests. The study recommends that although refugee issue is an enduring global issue, dealing with it requires dealing with conflicts in countries which produce the refugees. To do that requires dealing with global factors that are responsible for these conflicts.
Description
A research thesis to the school of law, arts and social sciences in fullfillment of the requirements for the award of a degree of doctor of philosophy (diplomacy and international relations), Kenyatta University, October 2024
Supervisors:
Dr. Joseph Wasonga
Dr. Francis Mulu