Rights Body Probes K’la, Nairobi On Refugee Abuse

By Richard MutumbaTHE United States-based Human Rights Watch has begun investigations into human rights abuses against asylum seekers and refugees in Kampala and Nairobi.This follows the murder on April 17 of two Rwandan refugee children in Nairobi. The two, aged nine and ten, had their throats slit at night by an assailant at a safe house. Their 43-year-old mother, who is a close relative of the late Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana, also suffered multiple stab wounds, according to the report.“This murder is a tragic reminder of the need to provide life-saving protection to refugees in Nairobi,” Rachael Reilly, the refugee policy director of HRW, said in a report released in the Nairobi and on their website last weekend.Reilly said the grave security problems faced by the Rwandan family were typical for many of refugees in Nairobi and Kampala. She said HRW had started investigating human rights abuses against asylum seekers and refugees in the cities.A refugee told HRW, “I don’t feel safe in the UNHCR facility. I don’t feel safe anywhere in Nairobi. The rights body said the murder of the Rwandans showed the need for Kenyan to protect the refugees at risk.Ends