Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] on Tuesday urged [report, PDF] the Kenyan government to cease coercing refugees into leaving the Dadaab refugee camp and returning to Somalia. The Kenyan government announced its intention to close Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee camp, by the end of November. Dadaab is home to 280,000 refugees, including 260,000 Somali refugees. The report found [press release] that the refugees risk getting injured, killed or forcibly recruited into the Islamic extremist group al-Shabab if forced to return to Somalia. The government’s stated reasons for the closure of Dadaab include claims that the camp is a threat to national security and that Kenya has received inadequate support from the international community. The report calls on Kenyan authorities to immediately halt the forced returns of Somali refugees and to look for alternative solutions to hosting refugees. The report also calls on the international community to provide significantly more support to Kenya as a major refugee hosting country.

The migrant crisis continues to have a huge impact in the international world. Earlier this month the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that the governments of France and the UK are failing in their obligation to protect refugee children [JURIST report] in the Calais “Jungle” refugee camp. Also in November a UN human rights expert called for new approaches [JURIST report] to prevent trafficking among increasing numbers of people fleeing conflict. In October the UNHCR called 2016 the worst year for refugees [JURIST report] crossing the Mediterranean Sea as the death toll reached its highest point. Also in October the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention called on the US government to abolish the mandatory detention [JURIST report] of migrants, especially asylum seekers, from all countries.