The Counter-terrorism Challenge in Implementation of the Non-refoulment Principle in Refugee Law in Kenya

Abstract

The study will examine various instruments both international and national as well as court decisions from various jurisdictions in the attempt to find a middle ground between public interest and national security as well as the government‟s compliance with the international law provisions on human rights, refugee protection and the rule of law. It will use examples of threat for closuring Dadaab Refugee camp to draw lessons learnt and challenges as well as draw recommendations on how such a situation such as the Kenyan one would have been handled best by a host nation. The paper therefore focuses on examination of the legal regime concerning refugees; counterterrorism and the non-refoulment principle as well as a Non-doctrinal research will focus on social, economic and political aspects of counter-terrorism and the non-refoulment principle. The study focuses on the Natural law theory, the Human rights school of thought as well as sociological jurisprudence which explore the importance of analysing law from a moral point of view while considering refugees‟ human rights and how they can integrate into a society while considering its socio-economical background. It concludes that, there exists solid legal regimes dealing with refugee protection especially regarding the Non-refoulment principle, and various jurisdictions have dealt with scenarios where the Non-refoulment principle has been contravened, however, it has proved difficult for Kenya to strike the abovementioned desired balance. The Kenyan government should put in place measures that will consider refugees as resources rather than a threat to territorial integrity because they have become a vital component in a number of economies and also expedite amendments to the refugee act to streamline registration of the refugees in the country.