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- Kenya profile; RSD; Refugee recognition institutions; Refugee recognition regime; UNHCR (1)
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This report discusses the evolution of the refugee recognition regime (RRR) in Kenya, chiefly over the period of 2000-2020. It highlights the government’s responses towards refugee protection, its bifurcated approach towards refugees based on where they reside, the challenges faced by protection seekers in the recognition process, and the shifts in responsibility between the government and UNHCR. The report is based on extensive desk-based research as well as original fieldwork, including interviews and focus group discussions with adult asylum seekers and refugees, as well as officers involved in refugee status determination (RSD) processes. The research targeted refugees and asylum seekers from the top four recognised nationalities in Kenya in the 20-year period: Somalis, South Sudanese, Ethiopians, and Congolese from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
This report examines South Africa’s refugee recognition regime which is typified by an individualised refugee status determination (RSD) system that sets it quite apart from other major refugee-hosting countries in Africa, whose major mode of refugee recognition is group-based. The report focuses on a twenty-year period (1998-2018) highlighting the various areas of contestation within the refugee protection space and South Africa’s adherence to its obligations, under both domestic and international law. Although extensive work has been carried out regarding the quality of RSD process in South Africa, gaps are still evident with respect to the refugee recognition institutions and their relational dynamics and how this impacts the refugee recognition regime and refugee protection generally. The report is based on desk research and original fieldwork in South Africa among various elites working in the refugee protection area as well as refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa drawn from three nationalities: Somalis, Ethiopians and Congolese from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).