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"speaker_name": "Mrs. Mugo",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Education",
"speaker": {
"id": 85,
"legal_name": "Beth Wambui Mugo",
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this Bill. I would like to congratulate the Minister for bringing it to this House at this very timely moment. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Kenya has been host to refugees for a very long time. This has certainly contributed to stability and security in this country. We have offered our neighbours a home at times of distress. Since the early 1970s this country has supported refugees in big numbers from one neighbouring country or the other. However, all this time, we have not had a law to regulate refugees affairs and protect them as well as the citizens of this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, while I thank the Minister, I would like to ask him to make sure that when this Bill is passed and implemented, it will essentially go a long way in protecting the very vulnerable refugees. These are women and children. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in most refugee camps, there are very many women and children who are vulnerable in many ways. We hear of terrible things, especially regarding rape, defilement and so on. This is done even by officers who are supposed to be taking care of the refugees. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is one thing to have a law and another one to implement it. There is need to make sure that those charged with the responsibility of looking after refugees are all properly trained. They should understand the law, as we will pass it here, and the international law which regulates and protects refugees. There is a booklet for Parliamentarians on the international refugee law. This booklet was authored by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). It is available to hon. Members. I would urge that this Parliament acquires it from the IPU and distributes it to hon. Members. We, as the lawmakers, need to internalise the international law and make sure that it 3708 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES November 15, 2006 complements what we are about to pass as our refugee law. The world is very small today and laws on international matters should be harmonised. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this country has suffered a great deal because of our few resources, which have been used by the whole of East African Community (EAC). Small developing countries have ended up shouldering the whole burden of refugees with very little support from the developed world. I would urge that our voice be heard. We are asking the developed world to play its role in supporting this very worthwhile cause. There has been a lot of strain on what is available in our country. It is no wonder that sometimes there are conflicts with the host communities in areas where refugees are hosted. While we take care of the refugees, first and foremost, we must take care of our communities living within those localities. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is also the question of training or imparting skills to these refugees so that they could also be engaged in gainful employment, whether in community or personal enterprise. They then will be well prepared to be repatriated back to their countries when law and order is established. That will reduce the need for them to keep coming back. Unless they are able to fend for themselves in their countries and are properly prepared, crises will erupt again. Instead of reconstructing their countries, there will be flair-ups and they will head back to Kenya. Therefore, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as we design this law, we must put emphasis on training and capacity building in these refugees, so that they make use of their time as refugees productively. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, sometimes refugees have promoted crime and insecurity in the host country. The unchecked entry of refugees into our country has led to insecurity. Some of these refugees come with small arms which are used to perpetrate crime in our country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in my Dagoretti Constituency, there are many small guns in the hands of the civilian and a lot of crime is going on. The residents say that the guns are in the hands of the foreigners in the area. I am not saying that the guns are only in the hands of foreigners, but refugees have contributed towards insecurity in this country. We must put enough checks and balances to govern the entry of refugees into our country. They should be screened, so that we can know who are the bona fide refugees and who are criminals. Small arms should never be allowed to come into our country. This is the only way that we can beef up security in our country. Whereas we have security problems being caused by our own people, refugees are making it difficult and almost impossible to deal with the security situation. As we pass this Bill, we should ensure that, first and foremost, the security of our country is taken care of and the security of the refugees is also taken care of. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are other resources which are very scarce, for example, water. We should ask the international community to drill many boreholes in these areas, so that we can have water for our people who live in those areas as well as the refugees. School facilities should also be improved. What curriculum should children in refugee camps follow? Should they follow the curriculum from their country, so that when they return home, they can fit back into their systems or should they use the curriculum of the host country? These are areas that we should look at as an international community. Even as we host refugees, our emphasis should be on repatriation. We should emphasise that as soon as there is law and order in their countries, they can go back home and reconstruct their countries. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as we discuss the issue of the externally displaced people, we should also consider our internally displaced persons, who are very many. It is only after we have taken care of our internally displaced persons that we can take care of the externally displaced persons. We should look at this problem as one. Despite the fact that one group comes November 15, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3709 from outside the borders and the other is an internal group, the suffering is the same. We should not just pass this Bill because it has been demanded by an International Refugee Law or so that it can fit within the international refugee statutes, but we should pass it to serve humanity. We should ensure that refugees enjoy their human rights, they are secured and well taken care of. However, charity begins at home. As we talk of the externally displaced people, we should also consider having a law to protect our internally displaced persons. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in partnership with the host country, has a responsibility of taking care of refugees. Sometimes, I feel like the Commission leaves a very big burden to the host country. It is time the UNHCR took a greater responsibility in taking care of refugees regardless of where they are. If that happens, then the burden would be equally shared between the host country and the international community. This is the body that is entrusted with regulating the number of refugees in any country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is also the UNHCR which should reduce the burden of a host country by moving some refugees to other countries. As much as we want to host refugees and we are friendly to them, there has been too much conflict for many years as to how many refugees a country can host at one given time. This is a very heavy burden and we should be assisted in solving the problem of refugees. In conclusion, when we read about the sufferings that women and young girls face in refugee camps, it makes us very sad, indeed. These are people who are locked up somewhere and they have nowhere to run to. I would like to request everybody who is concerned with the welfare of refugees to protect women and children in refugee camps. When rapists are apprehended, they should face the law as provided in the Sexual Offences Act, which we passed recently. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}