Judge Stops Gov’t Decision Directing Refugees, Asylum Seekers to Surrender Passports in 30 Days

A court Tuesday issued a conservatory order staying the decision of the State directing all refugees and asylum seekers to surrender their passports within 30 days. 

This may be a temporary relief for the targeted group which feels harassed.

Justice Bahati Mwamuye also stopped the state from taking any adverse action.

This follows a case filed by the Refugee Legal Networks and Semhar Weldemichael Haile.

“That pending the inter partes hearing and determination of the application dated 28/10/2024, a conservatory order be and is hereby issued staying the lst Respondent’s (the Commissioner of Refugee Services) decision/directive/notice dated 30/09/2024 directing that all refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya shall surrender the passport from the Country of Origin within thirty (30) days of the date of the decision/directive/notice.”

“That pending the inter partes hearing and determination of the application dated 28/10/2024, a conservatory order be and is hereby issued restraining the respondents, their agents, servants, associated agencies, and any public body that acts with them under a multi-agency framework from taking any adverse decision or action against any refugee or asylum seeker who has not complied with the decision/directive/notice dated 30/09/2024 directing that all refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya shall surrender the passport from the Country of Origin within thirty (30) days of the date of the decision/directive/notice,” read the order.

The case shall be mentioned on November 19.

Those sued include Commissioner of Refugees and State Law Office.

This follows an order by Commissioner of Refugees John Burugu that refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya must surrender their passports.

Burugu said he was issuing the moratorium on the possession and use of passports from the country of origin in line with international refugee laws and the Refugee Act of 2021.

Failure to comply may result in legal consequences, warned Burugu.

He said pursuant to the Refugees Act No. 10 of 2021 and the 1951 United Nations Convention and its 1967 Protocol on Status of Refugees, refugees in Kenya are expected to reside and cooperate with authorities in the country on matters regarding obtaining legal travel documents.

Refugees have the right to be issued with Civil, Identity and Travel documents as provided under Articles 12, 27 and 28 of the UN Convention.

“Travel documents for refuges outside Kenya are the Machine Readable Conventional Travel Documents (CTD) facilitated for issuance by the Department of Refugee Services.”

“One is free to use CTD to travel to any country outside Kenya, except, the refugees’ Country of Origin,” he said in a statement.

He said it had come to the attention of the Department of Refuge Services that some refugees and asylum seekers are using passports from their country of origin for traveling outside the country.

“In light of these recent developments and concerns regarding the use of passports from the country of origin, the Department of Refugee Services, (DRS) is hereby issuing a moratorium on the possession and use of such passports by refugees.”

“Accordingly, pursuant to the United Nations 1951 Convention and the Refuge Act No. 10 of 2021, all refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya are hereby required to surrender the passports from their country of origin to the Department of Refugee Services within thirty (30) days from the date of this notice,” he said.

He told all refugees and asylum seekers who are still keeping their passports to cooperate with this requirement in order to ensure their status and rights are protected in accordance with international laws and the Refugees Act of 2021.

“Failure to comply with this directive may result in legal consequences as outlined in the aforementioned international convention and the Refugee Act No. 10 of 2021 and may lead to legal implications including cancellation of refuge status and subsequent expulsion from the country of asylum as provided by Section 17 of the Refugees Act.”

He said the Commissioner shall have the power to cancel a refugee status where a person recognized as a refugee has fraudulently misrepresented or omitted material facts which, if known, could have changed the decision to recognize that person as a refugee.

He may also cancel the status where new evidence becomes available that a person should not have been recognised as a refugee.

According to UN High Commissioner for Refugees over 33,600 Somali refugees live in Nairobi alone and the country hosts refugees from nine nations in total.

Dadaab, around 100 kilometers from the main border with Somalia, hosts over 468,700 mainly Somali refugees.

Kakuma, around 100 kilometers from the border with South Sudan, hosts over 103,600 refugees, almost half of whom are Somalis, the rest largely being made up of Sudanese or South Sudanese, officials said.