Wasted Lives: Internally Displaced Persons Living in Camps in Kenya

Abstract

This article evaluates the protection that the Government of Kenya off ered to those who fled to camps in the wake of the post-election violence that gripped the country in 2007. It focuses on basic needs, social economic entitlements and the right to return one's pre-conflict home. The article contends that, overall, the Government failed to meet its obligations as required by national and international standards on the protection of internally displaced persons. To conclude, specific recommendations, which would ameliorate the suff ering that IDPs continue to face in transitional states such as Kenya, are made.