Securitisation, non-refoulement and the rule of law in Kenya: the case of Somali refugees

ABSTRACT

This article adopts the securitisation theory to examine the relationship among securitisation, non-refoulement, a peremptory norm, and the rule of law in Kenya. The arguments raised are that Somali refugees and refugee camps predominantly occupied by Somalis are falsely, in blanket fashion, socially constructed as abetting terrorism hence existential threats to national security so that the state can prioritise the implementation of refoulement, a norm-violating counterterrorism measure. The rights of Somali refugees and rule of law have been violated in the context of legality and legal certainty, discretionary powers, equality before the law and non-discrimination. It is only with regard to access to justice that the rights of Somali refugees have been protected under both domestic and international law. Kenya has, therefore, derogated from the doctrine of non-refoulement hence violating the rule of law domestically and internationally. The conclusion offers ways of mitigating the adverse effects of securitisation on non-refoulement and the rule of law.

KEYWORDS:

• Counterterrorism
• non-refoulement
• derogation
• human rights violation
• Somali refugees

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Oscar Gakuo Mwangi is Associate Professor of Political Science and Head of the Department of Political and Administrative Studies, National University of Lesotho. His research interests are in comparative politics, especially in the areas of democratisation and governance, conflict and security, and environmental politics in eastern and southern Africa. His teaching areas are in the fields of comparative politics, international relations, and political theory.

ORCID

Oscar Gakuo Mwangi http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3559-5900

Notes

1 William E. Conklin, ‘The Peremptory Norms of the International Community’, The European Journal of International Law 23, no. 3 (2012): 837–61, 837–8, doi:10.1093/ejil/chs048.

2 United Nations (UN), Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969. Done at Vienna on 23 May 1969. Entered into force on 27 January 1980. United Nations, Treaty Series, Vol. 1155 (New York: United Nations, 2005).

3 Ibid., 22.

4 Elihu Lauterpacht and Daniel Bethlehem, The Scope and Content of the Principle of Non-Refoulement: Opinion (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 2003), 89–90.

5 Alice Farmer, ‘Non-Refoulement and Jus Cogens: Limiting Anti-Terror Measures that Threaten Refugee Protection’, Georgetown Immigration Law Journal 23, no. 1 (2008): 2–3.

6 UNHCR, 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (Geneva: UNHCR, 2010), 30.

7 Farmer, ‘Non-Refoulement and Jus Cogens’, 2–3.

8 International Organization for Migration (IOM), The IOM Handbook on Direct Assistance for Victims of Trafficking (Geneva: International Organization for Migration, 2007), 70.

9 Randall Peerenboom, ‘Human Rights and the Rule of Law: What’s the Relationship?’ Georgetown Journal of International Law 36 (2005): 828–30.

10 Felix Ciuta, ‘Security and the Problem of Context: A Hermeneutical Critique of Securitisation Theory’, Review of International Studies 35, no. 2 (2009): 301–26, 304, doi:10.1017/S0260210509008535.

11 Ciuta, ‘Security and the Problem of Context’, 308.

12 Michael Newell, ‘The Origins of American Counterterrorism’ (Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism (INSC) Working Paper Series, April 2016), 3–4.

13 Sarah Leonard, ‘EU Border Security and Migration into the European Union: FRONTEX and Securitisation through Practices’, European Security 19, no. 2 (2010): 231–54, 235, doi:10.1080/09662839.2010.526937.

14 Jonathan Bright, ‘Securitisation, Terror and Control: Towards a Theory of the Breaking Point’, Review of International Studies 38, no. 4 (2012): 861–79, 861–2, doi:10.1017/S0260210511000726.

15 Alexander Spencer, ‘The Problems of Evaluating Counter-Terrorism’ (UNISCI Discussion Paper, No. 12, October 2006), 15.

16 Daniela Pisoiu, ‘Pragmatic Persuasion in Counter-Terrorism’, Critical Studies on Terrorism 5, no. 3 (2012): 297–317, 298, doi:10.1080/17539153.2012.728051.

17 Ciuta, ‘Security and the Problem of Context’, 301; Hoger Stritzel, ‘Security as Translation: Threats, Discourse, and the Politics of Localisation’, Review of International Studies 37, no. 5 (2011): 2495–517, 2492, doi:10.1017/50260210510001579.

18 Newell, ‘The Origins of American Counterterrorism’, 5.

19 Jeremy Lind, Patrick Mutahi, and Marjoke Oosterom, ‘“Killing a Mosquito with a Hammer”: Al-Shabaab Violence and State Security Responses in Kenya’, Peacebuilding 5, no. 2 (2017): 118–35, 121, doi:10.1080/21647259.2016.1277010.

20 Oscar Mwangi, ‘The Union of Islamic Courts and Security Governance in Somalia’, African Security Review, Special Issue: The Horn of Africa 19, no. 1 (2010): 88–94, 88–90, doi:10.1080/10246021003736674.

21 Oscar Mwangi, ‘State Collapse, Al-Shabaab, Islamism and Legitimacy in Somalia’, Politics, Religion & Ideology 13, no. 4 (2012): 513–27, 518, doi:10.1080/21567689.2012.725659; Lind et al., ‘Killing a Mosquito with a Hammer’, 121.

22 Amnesty International (AI), Kenya. Denied Refuge: The Effect of the Closure of the Kenya/Somalia Border on Thousands of Somali Asylum-Seekers and Refugees (London: Amnesty International, 2007), 3.

23 Ibid., 3–4; Refugee Consortium of Kenya (RCK), Asylum Under Threat: Assessing the Protection of Somali Refugees in Dadaab Refugee Camps and along the Migration Corridor (Nairobi: Refugee Consortium of Kenya, 2012), 18.

24 AI, Nowhere Else to Go: Forced Returns of Somali Refugees from Dadaab Camp, Kenya (London: Amnesty International, 2016), 10.

25 Thomson Reuters Foundation, A Review of the Legal Framework Relating to the Proposed Closure of the Dadaab Refugee Camp and Repatriation of Somali Refugees (London: Thomson Reuters Foundation, 2017), 8–9.

26 AI, Nowhere Else to Go, 10–11.

27 AI, Kenya: Waning Accountability for Justice and Human Rights, Amnesty International Submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review, January 2015 (London: Amnesty International, 2014), 4; AI, Nowhere Else to Go, 11–12.

28 AI, Kenya: Waning Accountability for Justice, 4; Oscar Mwangi, ‘Corruption, Human Rights Violation and Counterterrorism Policies in Kenya’, in The Palgrave Handbook of Global Counterterrorism Policy, ed. Scott Romaniuk, Francis Grice, Daniela Irrera and Stewart Webb (Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillan, 2017), 1049–51.

29 Lind et al., ‘Killing a Mosquito with a Hammer’, 131.

30 AI, Nowhere Else to Go, 12.

31 Ibid., 12.

32 Ibid., 12.

33 Mark Bradbury and Michael Kleinman, Winning Hearts and Minds? Examining the Relationship Between Aid and Security in Kenya (Feinstein International Center, Tufts University, 2010), 21; UNHCR, ‘Kenya: Figures at a Glance’, http://www.unhcr.org; UNHCR, ‘Dadaab Refugee Complex’, http://www.unhcr.org.

34 AI, Nowhere Else to Go, 12–13.

35 Ibid., 12–13.

36 Lind et al., ‘Killing a Mosquito with a Hammer’, 131–2.

37 AI, Nowhere Else to Go, 13.

38 Thomson Reuters Foundation, A Review of the Legal Framework, 9.

39 Ibid., 9–10.

40 United Nations Security Council (UNSC), ‘The Rule of Law and Transitional Justice in Conflict and Post-conflict Societies’, Report of the Secretary-General, 23 August 2004, S/2004/616, 4.

41 Council of Europe (COE), The Rule of Law Check List (Venice: Council of Europe, 2016), 18–20.

42 Republic of Kenya, The Constitution of Kenya (Published by the National Council for Law Reporting with the Authority of the Attorney General, Revised Edition 2010), 13.

43 Ibid., 13.

44 Ibid., 14.

45 Ibid., 13.

46 Ibid., 70.

47 UNHCR, 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 30.

48 Republic of Kenya, Refugees Act No. 13 of 2006 (Published by the National Council for Law Reporting with the Authority of the Attorney-General, Revised Edition 2016 [2014]), 13.

49 UNHCR, Somalia Situation: Supplementary Appeal (Geneva: UNHCR, January–December 2017), 6.

50 AI, Not Time to Go Home: Unsustainable Returns of Refugees to Somalia (London: Amnesty International, 2017), 10.

51 Thomson Reuters Foundation, A Review of the Legal Framework, 10.

52 Ibid., 21–2.

53 AI, Not Time to Go Home, 21.

54 COE, The Rule of Law, 30–2.

55 Kenya, The Constitution of Kenya, 24.

56 Ibid., 19.

57 COE, The Rule of Law, 22.

58 UNHCR, 1951 Convention, 30.

59 Kenya, Refugees Act, 13.

60 Ibid., 14.

61 Oscar Mwangi, ‘The Dilemma of Kenya’s New Counterterrorism and Asymmetric Warfare’, Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice, Special Issue on ‘New’ Conflicts and Emerging Economy of Difference in Africa 29, no. 3 (2017): 307–14, 311, doi:10.1080/10402659.2017.1344830.

62 Republic of Kenya, ‘Closure of Dadaab to be Done within Confines of Law-AG’, 8 June 2016, http://www.mygov.go.ke/closure-of-dadaab-to-be-done-within-confines-of-law-ag/; Republic of Kenya, ‘Kenya’s Decision to Close Dadaab Refugee Camp Final-DP Ruto’, 23 May 2016, http://www.mygov.go.ke/kenyas-decision-to-close-dadaab-refugee-camp-final-dp-ruto/; Republic of Kenya, ‘Government Update on the Repatriation of Refugees and Scheduled Closure of Dadaab Refugee Camp’, 11 May 2016; Republic of Kenya, ‘President Kenyatta’s Madaraka Day Speech’, 1 June 2016; Republic of Kenya, ‘PS Karanja Kibicho Explains Why the Government is Shutting Down Refugee Camps’, 9 May 2016; Republic of Kenya, ‘Speech by His Excellency Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta, C.G.H., President of the Republic of Kenya and Commander in Chief of the Defence Forces, Extra-Ordinary Summit of the IGAD Assembly of Heads of State and Government on Durable Solutions for Somali Refugees’, KICC, Nairobi, 25 March, 2017; National Police Service (NPS), ‘Attack at Central Police Station – Mombasa’, http://www.nationalpolice.go.ke/2015-09-08-17-56-33/news/173-attack-at-central-police-station-mombasa.html.

63 Ibid.

64 AI, Somalis are Scapegoats in Kenya’s Counter-Terror Crackdown (London: Amnesty International, 2014), 5–6.

65 Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), IPOA Report Following the Mpeketoni Attacks (15 and 16 June 2014) – Redacted Version (Nairobi: IPOA, 2014), 3.

66 Ibid., 15.

67 IPOA, IPOA Report, 13–14; Mwangi, ‘Corruption, Human Rights Violation’, 1050.

68 Republic of Kenya, ‘Gazette Notice No. 3017. The Refugees Act (No. 13 of 2006). Revocation of Prima Facie Refugee Status’, The Kenya Gazette CXVIII, no. 46 (29 April 2016), 1901.

69 COE, The Rule of Law, 43–6.

70 Kenya, The Constitution of Kenya, 33–4.

71 Ibid., 96.

72 Republic of Kenya, Petition No. 19 of 2013 Consolidated with Petition No. 115 of 2013. Dated and delivered on 26 July 2013 (Nairobi: The National Council for Law Reporting, 2013), 1–5.

73 Ibid., 8–9.

74 Ibid., 24.

75 Republic of Kenya, Petition No. 628 of 2014 Consolidated with Petition No. 630 of 2014 and Petition No. 12 of 2015. Dated, Delivered and Signed on 23 February 2015 (Nairobi: The National Council for Law Reporting, 2015), 1–2.

76 Republic of Kenya, The Security Laws (Amendment) Act, 2014 No. 19 of 2004. Kenya Gazette Supplement No. 167 (Acts No. 19) (Nairobi: Government Printer, 2014), 341–2.

77 Kenya, Petition No. 628 of 2014 Consolidated with Petition No. 630 of 2014 and Petition No. 12 of 2015, 90–1.

78 Republic of Kenya, Constitutional Petition No. 227 of 2016. Dated, Delivered and Signed on 9 February 2017 (Nairobi: The National Council for Law Reporting, 2017), 2–3.

79 Ibid., 2–3.

80 Ibid., 12–15.

81 Victor Nyamori, Kenya: Failure to Register Somali Refugees Putting Them at Risks of Starvation and Abuse (Amnesty International, 20 February 2018), https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/02/kenya-failure-to-register-somali-refugees-putting-them-at-risk-of-starvation-and-abuse/.