KENYA IDP PROTECTION CLUSTER
Protection Working Group on Internal Displacement
Transition Concept Note
Background
Internal displacement in Kenya is a complex and multi-faceted social problem that revolves
around and reflects issues of land and property, as well as the struggle for the control of
political and economic resources. These intricate and sensitive issues manifest in ethnic
conflict, violent cattle raids and government evictions characterized by human rights abuses
and have displaced people throughout the country1. Additionally, human-made and natural
disasters increasing lead to displacement and migration within areas and towards urban or periurban slum areas.
The 27 December 2007 Kenya Presidential elections ignited serious ethnic violence in the
country and resulted in over 1,200 deaths and the internal displacement of more than 350,000
persons. Post-election violence (PEV) was most widespread and violent throughout the Rift
Valley and the western part of Kenya, and to a lesser extent in Nairobi and Central Province.
IDPs in Rift Valley were mainly accommodated in assisted IDP camps, while in the western
and central provinces IDPs were mainly hosted in the communities. On May 5, 2008,
following the formation of the coalition government and the apparent return to ‘normality’, the
government initiated Operation Rudi Nyambani’ with the aim of facilitating the return of IDPs,
mainly farmers/ landowners from the Rift Valley, to their pre-displacement locations or
conversely to ‘ancestral homes’. The operation continued in spite of conditions on the grounds
that were not always conducive to safe and dignified return and limited investment by local
and government authorities on peace and reconciliation initiatives. Many IDP returnees left
the organized camps to settle spontaneously in unassisted transit settlements close to their
farms. While some have returned to their homes, thousands remain in transit sites as of end of
2008. The majority of returnees in transit sites cited lack of shelter and livelihood inputs, fear
of loosing out on government resettlement grants or humanitarian assistance and in some
locations, continued security fears, as reasons for remaining in transit sites. At the end of
January 2009, with the official closure of all IDP camps, district and provincial government
officials are increasingly pressuring IDPs, particularly landowning farmers, to disband the
transit sites and return to their exact areas of origin. Many business people who owned or
rented business property, land renters and squatters however are still in displacement and in
need of durable solutions: some have grouped together as ‘Self Help Groups’ to purchase
undersized and often uninhabitable pieces of land on which to pitch their tents or build small
houses. Underpinning the conflict and as yet unaddressed are the longstanding land/ property
issues, lack of efficient and effective legal/ judicial and dispute resolution processes including
coordinated legal aid services, longterm displacement of some groups and the need for
ongoing, government sponsored, peace building efforts that include local and national political
involvement that provide real durable solutions.
In addition to PEV IDPs, there are large caseloads of IDPs throughout the country (estimated
at more than 400,000 persons) resulting from previous events of election violence, political
violence such as in Mount Elgon, recurrent and prolonged displacement due to ethnic and
‘I am a Refugee in My Own Country’: Conflict Induced Internal Displacement in Kenya, IDMC 19 December
2006
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inter-communal violence, cross border conflicts such as in the Mandera region and resource
related conflict over land or as a result of drought and environmental changes. While some
populations affected by drought or natural disaster receive humanitarian assistance to mitigate
displacement, there has been little or no focus on documenting and quantifying displacement
throughout Kenya, identifying and resolving the root causes of conflict or exploring durable
solutions options for habitually displaced persons. In most cases, key protection and legal
rights issues have been neglected.
The Government of Kenya has a responsibility to protect its displaced citizens in the light of
legally-binding commitments taken with the Protocols of the International Conference on the
Great Lakes Region and of its formal acceptance of the Guiding Principles on Internal
Displacement as well as within its legal framework that protect all citizens of Kenya. With the
increasing focus on legal and judicial as well as constitutional reform there is an urgent need
for national and international protection, legal aid and human rights agencies, in addition to the
UN to collaborate on these issues. The overall challenge is how to assist and feed into the the
Government of Kenya processes to domesticate and operationalize these commitments and
facilitate the reform process.
Protection Cluster Background:
In January 2008, the National Disaster Operations Center, on behalf of the Government of
Kenya called upon humanitarian agencies to mitigate the humanitarian crisis and displacement
resulting from post election violence. The UN Humanitarian Coordinator and Inter-Agency
Standing Committee (IASC), in line with practice in other situations of internal conflict and
displacement, activated the Cluster system in Kenya, to address the humanitarian response
needs related to post election violence. Eleven Clusters were established to enable rapid
mobilization of donor funding, provide a mechanism for coordination of local and
international humanitarian agencies and support government structures until their capacities
were restored.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was requested by the UN
Humanitarian Coordinator and Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) to assume
chairmanship and provide operational support and coordination for three Clusters: Camp
Coordination/ Camp Management (CCCM - co-chaired with Kenya Red Cross Society),
Emergency Shelter/ NFI and IDP Protection. Membership in all Clusters included broad
representation from local and international humanitarian assistance, protection, legal aid and
human rights organizations, Government Ministries and civil society partners. By the end of
2008, the CCCM Cluster was phased-out and the Emergency Shelter Cluster is chaired as a
working group by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of State for Special Programs
(MoSSP).
The national IDP Protection Cluster was established by UNHCR in January 2008, with
representation from more than 30 agencies including Ministry of Justice and Kenya National
Commission for Human Rights, UN agencies and national and international NGOs and
community based organizations. Two sub-clusters addressing Gender-based Violence and
Child Protection were also established at national level. While terms of reference for the
Protection Cluster in 2008 largely focused post election violence, there was recognition that
other largely forgotten and unassisted instances of internal displacement in Kenya required
attention and that key policy and displacement related human rights and legal issues were
unaddressed.
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Given the limited mandate of UNHCR to address the wider durable solutions, legal and policy
issues and its limited operational role related to internal displacement in Kenya, it was
proposed that the Protection Cluster in early 2009, be transformed into a national level,
Protection Working Group on Internal Displacement (PWGID), chaired by a government
ministry or national human rights/ protection organization with broad membership from
national and international protection, human rights, legal aid and civil society agencies. The
two sub-clusters attached to the Protection Cluster are undertaking similar processes that will
root them in their respective line ministries: the Gender Commission, in collaboration with
UNFPA will chair the Gender-based Violence Working Group and the Ministry of Home
Affairs, Childrens’ Department will assume chairmanship of the Child Protection Working
Group in early 2009.
Strategy for transition to a national Protection Working Group on Internal
Displacement:
In 2008 it was agreed by the IASC and Cluster members that the UNHCR chaired Protection
Cluster should be transformed in 2009 into a national forum addressing the protection needs of
all displaced persons in Kenya. Ideally the newly formed Protection Working Group for
Internal Displacement (PWGID) will be chaired by a government ministry or national human
rights/ protection organization with the new Chair commencing on 1 March 2009.
During the 3 February 2009, Protection Cluster meeting, the Cluster members proposed that
because of its unique mandate in Kenya for the legal protection of all citizens on its territory
that the Ministry of Justice, National Cohesion and Legal Affairs be considered for
chairmanship of the Protection Working Group on Internal Displacement. A request for
consideration of this proposal is being launched to the Ministry of Justice.
To ensure ownership by all partners, the new Chair of the PWGID along with UNHCR and
WG members will convene a Stakeholders Forum, with broad representation from key
international and national partners, civil society and government ministries to review and map
out the short, medium and long-term PWGID terms of reference, objectives and work plans,
WG structures, membership and budget requirements. Prior to the stakeholders forum
however, Working Group members should conduct a situational analysis and assessment of all
instances of internal displacement in Kenya (to better understand the scale, scope, profiles and
root causes of displacement in Kenya and prioritize responses), conduct a review of the
organizational and operational capacities of Working Group members as well as protection
NGOs and community based organizations, undertake a basic legislative/ policy review and
analysis to improve overall understanding of the existing human rights and legal framework
and identify gaps to inform future legal or policy advocacy or reform objectives
With the agreement of the Chair and membership, UNHCR will continue to act as co-chair of
the PWGID with the aim of capacitating working group members and government partners to
implement work plans and advocacy strategies, develop a comprehensive durable solutions
framework and support a policy review that leads to drafting of an IDP policy document. For
operational purposes, UNHCR would assist with coordination of assistance for displacement
linked to political or conflict-related situations while OCHA would provide coordination for
displacement related to natural and environmental disasters. In the event that UNHCR is
unable to co-chair the PWGID, UNICEF or OHCHR or another agency such as Kenya
National Commission on Human Rights would be asked to act as co-chair under terms similar
to UNHCR.
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Objectives of the Protection Working Group on Internal Displacement
The overall objective of the Protection Working Group on Internal Displacement is to
contribute to the capacity of the Government of Kenya to address the protection needs of IDPs
throughout Kenya: capacity building and advocacy of government institutions through training
in the Guiding Principles of internal displacement, advocacy for the implementation of the
IC/GLR Protocols on IDPs and the finalization of the draft AU IDP Convention and
elaboration of a national IDP Policy will remain main institutional objectives of the PWGID.
Additional objectives and activities may include a review of and advocacy for the development
of Kenya’s legal and policy framework related to internal displacement, monitoring that
policies and operations are in line with regional and international commitments, providing
guidance to government and civil society on the vulnerabilities of IDPs, human rights context
and gaps and specific government obligations for providing protection and increasing the
overall capacity to prevent or mitigate displacement. Operationally, the PWGID will
coordinate internally and externally to ensure a timely and effective protection response to
instances of displacement and with all other sectors and actors, to ensure an overall
coordinated humanitarian response and the mainstreaming of protection and human rights
principles in all activities.
The PWGIP may continue with or establish additional sub-working groups on child protection
and GBV, field level Protection Working Groups in areas of conflict and displacement or
create thematic working groups, including time limited groups as required.
Membership
Membership to the PWGID shall be open to all organizations able and willing to contribute
with expertise, knowledge and/or resources relevant to the priority protection issues
confronting the internally displaced and affected population in Kenya. Membership will
include representatives of Government Ministries, national and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), United Nations agencies and other national, communitybased or international organizations.
Draft Framework for coordination
The following principles shall guide the coordination within the Protection Working Group
on Internal Displacement:
Inclusion of key humanitarian partners: The Working Group members will actively seek to
include the maximum of relevant partners, respecting their specific mandates and programme
priorities.
Identification of key protection themes and issues: The members of the Protection
Working Group will identify key protection themes and issues, around which the
Working Group will devise work plans and propose strategies for solutions.
Establishment and maintenance of humanitarian coordination mechanisms: Working Group
members will ensure appropriate coordination with all clusters/ sectors, government and
humanitarian partners and national/ field working groups through maintenance of efficient
data/ information management systems, and effective information exchange. The PWGID
will develop or contribute to common needs assessment tools through which protection issues
and gaps can be identified and response strategies developed. Humanitarian partners should
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commit to developing coordinated response strategies, ensuring complementarity and
establishing a rational and clear distribution of responsibilities within the Working Group.
Coordination mechanisms must be flexible to reflect the changing realities and develop
capacities of local actors.
Coordination with national and local authorities, State institutions, local civil society
and other relevant actors:
The Working Group members will ensure that
humanitarian responses are built on local capacities. All activities will be planned and
implemented in close coordination with the representatives of the National Disasters
Operations Centre (NDOC), Ministry of State for Special Programs (MoSSP) relevant
ministries, national and local authorities, government designated lead agencies and
local civil society.
Participatory and community-based approaches: The Working Group members will ensure
the utilization of participatory and community based approaches in sectoral needs assessment,
analysis, planning, monitoring and response.
Attention to priority cross-cutting issues: The Working Group members will ensure
integration in sectoral needs assessment, analysis, planning, monitoring and response of
agreed priority cross-cutting issues such as age, gender, diversity (AGDM), environment,
HIV/AIDS and a rights-based approach. They will contribute to the development of
appropriate strategies to address these issues and ensure gender/age sensitive programming
and promote gender equality.
Planning and strategy development: The Working Group members will develop a common
protection strategy including the identification of gaps, and a predictable action plan. The
strategy will be periodically revised based on relevant developments. Planning will also
include a contingency planning process to improve preparedness and feed into other
contingency planning processes.
Application of standards: The Working Group members will share among each other and
further disseminate relevant inter-agency and agency policy guidelines, technical standards
and ensure that responses are in line with this guidance.
Monitoring, reporting and response: The coordination of protection needs assessments,
monitoring, documentation and reporting is key to the work of the Protection Cluster. To the
extent possible, the Working Group members will develop common tools for information
collection, processing and analysis of protection needs of both individuals and communities.
Both rapid needs assessments and more in depth protection assessments must be compiled
and analysed without delay in order to assess protection gaps and inform immediate response
action. Emergency response action and prevention and risk reduction must be priorities, while
at the same time the possible need for early recovery planning must be considered.
Advocacy and resource mobilization: The Working Group members will identify core
advocacy concerns, including resource requirements, and contribute to disseminating key
messages to a broader target audience, in support of advocacy initiatives of the Humanitarian
Coordinator and other relevant actors. Working Group members will actively seek resource
mobilization through their traditional channels. The Working Group members will also, when
appropriate, coordinate and collaborate on common fund raising initiatives.
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Training and capacity building: The Working Group members will identify training and
capacity building needs within their own organization and other humanitarian partners.
Addressing the identified training and capacity building needs will be coordinated, while
making effective use of their commonly available resources, taking into account the specific
expertise of each organization. Support efforts to strengthen the capacity of the national
authorities and civil society will receive special attention.
Confidentiality: Individual and identifiable data on protection cases will not be
discussed in the Working Group to ensure the right of privacy of the individual is
respected. Other for a can be created to address such issues with due regard to the
individual’s confidentiality. All issues discussed in the Working Group must be
deemed to be in the public domain and can be shared with third parties.
UNHCR BO Nairobi
06/02/2009
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