- The High Court in Garissa, Kenya ruled on January 21 in favor of thousands of ethnic Somali Kenyan nationals whose rights were violated by the refusal to deregister them from the refugee database and issue them Kenyan ID cards even though they were Kenyans.
- Tens of thousands of Kenyan Somalis who were incorrectly registered as refugees were left de facto stateless, unable to open a bank account, get a driver’s license, or access government benefits.
- The Kenyan government, beyond implementing the court’s orders, should ensure that people are able to access all services to which they are entitled as citizens without discrimination.
The High Court in Garissa, Kenya ruled on January 21, 2025, in favor of thousands of Kenyan nationals whose nationality and citizenship rights were violated based on incorrect data that designated them as refugees instead of Kenyan citizens, Human Rights Watch and Haki na Sheria said today.
The registration of these Kenyan Somalis led to them being denied access to education, work, and passports. The ruling, which orders the Kenyan government to issue nationality documents to the applicants of the case, is an important step for justice in the mistreatment of these applicants by the government and shows the need for robust safeguards and oversight of digital identity systems.
“The court’s finding that the Kenyan government violated the rights of thousands of Kenyans by denying them citizenship for years is a positive step,” said Yussuf Bashir, executive director of Haki na Sheria (“Justice and Law” in Swahili), which defends the rights of marginalized northern communities in Kenya. “It should now be followed by concrete remedial actions for all those affected, not just the applicants in this case.”
The court ruled in favor of the applicants and ordered the government to remove from the refugee database within 60 days the names of Kenyans incorrectly registered who have been screened, vetted, cleared, and declared to be Kenyan citizens. The court also ordered the government to collaborate with relevant agencies to activate or reactivate vetting committees to start new vetting processes within six months for other Kenyans facing the same predicament.
From 1991 until mid-2014, UNHCR was conducting registration activities on behalf of the Government of Kenya and registering refugees, including roughly 278,000 Somalis, through the collection of fingerprint and basic biographical data. An estimated 40,000 Kenyan Somalis, including children who adults misrepresented as refugees in order to access shelter or aid that they needed to survive, were also registered during this time. The registration data included individuals’ sensitive personal data, which after 2007 also included biometric data like fingerprint images.
For those interviewed, the consequences of being incorrectly registered have been significant.
All Kenyan nationals are required to apply for a national ID upon turning 18. The Kenyan authorities cross-check all applicants’ biographical and fingerprint data against the national list of registered refugees, and if an individual appears in that list, the government rejects the request for a national ID. This has served as a basis to deny a range of civil and human rights, from getting a job or passport to marriage.
The High Court decision is fundamentally changing the lives of those affected. One man who is 34 and only recently obtained an identity card confirming his Kenyan nationality told Human Rights Watch: “I am now finally recognized as a Kenyan person, I am no longer seen as a guest here. Now I am able to travel within the country any time anywhere. I am entitled to work. I will go to the university and do a course. I have succeeded!”
In 2021 and 2022, Human Rights Watch interviewed 16 Kenyan Somalis—nine men and seven women—who were all denied Kenyan ID cards when they turned 18 and tried to register their Kenyan nationality. Human Rights Watch and Haki na Sheria also interviewed Kenyan officials, former or current staff members of UNHCR, lawyers working on behalf of the affected people, and other civil society organizations. Haki na Sheria identified the interviewees.
Kenya established refugee camps, including the large Dadaab complex, for Somalis between 1991 and 1992, when thousands were fleeing civil war, drought and famine. A severe drought in Kenya from 1992 and throughout the decade pushed many Kenyan Somalis to also leave their homes, and some sought refuge and aid in the new camps.
All the Kenyan Somalis interviewed said a parent, adult relative, or family friend had taken them to one of these camps in Kenya between 1992 and 2016 and registered them because their family was struggling to find food, water, and shelter, even though they were not refugees and did not qualify for refugee assistance. Two of those interviewed had been under age 3 at the time. Four said they stayed in the camp only briefly—a few days or just a few hours—to get food before returning home.
A 30-year-old man said his parents took him to Hagadera camp when he was 8 because they were struggling to feed the family. “We came to the camp after our 50 cows died because we had no food or water for them,” he said. “The only way to survive was to get help in the camps.”
According to UNHCR, upon being registered as refugees or asylum-seekers by UNHCR or jointly by the Government and UNHCR (depending on the time period), each individual was referred to Kenya’s National Registration Bureau (NRB), the body in charge of registering all Kenyans 18 and older to confirm their nationality claims, for processing of a refugee ID card or other documentation. In order to obtain such documentation, the individual was registered in parallel by the NRB, and this process included the collection of relevant personal data, including fingerprints, by the NRB, which were uploaded onto the NRB’s database, and this allowed the NRB to identify Kenyan nationals.
In 2016, the Kenyan government became the sole authority carrying out refugee registration, with UNHCR granting the government access to UNHCR’s registration system called the Population Registration and Identity Management Eco-System (PRIMES), which contains personal information about individuals, including their fingerprints. Once registered by UNHCR, an individual is permanently in the refugee database; there is no procedure for people to request their profile and all of their corresponding data to be removed. While UNHCR registered people on behalf of the Kenyan government, it did not take additional steps to inform the people involved that it was sharing their personal data with the government at the time of the handover.
Fifteen of the Kenyan Somalis interviewed said that, to the best of their recollection or knowledge, they were only registered as refugees by UNHCR staff in the camps.
Kenyan Somalis already face discrimination based on their ethnicity: for decades, they have faced targeted identity checks and police checks, additional barriers to acquiring identification documents and establishing citizenship, and police raids in Muslim-majority neighborhoods.
Tens of thousands of Kenyan Somalis who were registered as refugees in order to access lifesaving assistance, were left de facto stateless. Without a Kenyan national ID card, a person cannot open a bank account, get a driver’s license, or access government benefits. People have reported being detained when they are unable to show a valid identity document, for example at a checkpoint.
In August 2021, Haki na Sheria filed a petition in the Garissa High Court on behalf of three victims for the government’s continued failure to remove Kenyan citizens from the government refugee database and issue national IDs. In January 2022, the government granted national IDs to some of those who had faced obstacles applying for a Kenyan ID card as a result of having been registered as refugees, but an estimated 40,000 people continued to be deprived of their rights until this judgment.
Beyond implementing the court’s orders, the Kenyan government should ensure that people are able to access all services to which they are entitled as citizens without discrimination. Where the lack of ability to obtain an identity document is blocking their ability to have their rights met, the government should ensure they have alternative points of entry to access essential services.
“The registration system that left thousands of Kenyans stateless is a powerful example of how digital identity systems can cause real, tangible harm,” said Belkis Wille, associate crisis, conflict and arms director at Human Rights Watch. “Governments, organizations, and countries who are using such systems should take all precautions to ensure these systems are used to protect, not abrogate, rights.”
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Human Rights Watch (HRW).
