Kenya high court affirms citizenship rights of Somali Kenyan nationals News
Kenya high court affirms citizenship rights of Somali Kenyan nationals

Kenya’s High Court of Garissa ruled on Wednesday that the Kenyan government’s refusal to issue identification documents to ethnic Somali Kenyan nationals was unconstitutional and infringed on their rights.

Kenyan NGO Haki-na-Sheria issued a statement on Wednesday welcoming the judgment on its official X account. The NGO stated that the High Court ordered the Kenyan government to remove within 60 days all names of ethnic Somali Kenyan nationals incorrectly registered in the country’s refugee databases. The court further directed the government to set up vetting committees with other relevant agencies in an effort to declare “double-registered” nationals as citizens.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) also urged the Kenya government to ensure that double-registered individuals could access all amenities upon receiving citizenship. Haki-na-Sheria executive director Yussuf Bashir told HRW, “The court’s finding that the Kenyan government violated the rights of thousands of Kenyans by denying them citizenship is a positive step. It should now be followed by concrete remedial actions for all those affected, not just the applicants in this case.”

In January 2025, the High Court of Garissa ruled in favor of ethnic Somali Kenyan nationals who had previously been denied citizenship rights. Human Rights Watch stated that “tens of thousands” of ethnic Kenyan Somali nationals were incorrectly registered, and the government had refused to to de-register them from refugee databases. Many were rendered stateless, meaning that they were unable to open bank accounts, procure drivers licenses, receive a public education, or access government support due to their refugee statuses.

Kenya suffered a severe drought in 1992, causing many people to relocate to camps intended for Somali refugees fleeing famine and civil war. Amnesty International reported that many people registered their children as refugees because it was their only way to obtain aid. In the late 2000s, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) implemented a biomtric system to help identify the refugees living in Kenya. UNHCR later shared its database with the Kenyan government which resulted in the merger between the UNHCR database and the Kenyan national database. Today, an estimated 40,000 Kenyan Somalis have been unable to register for a national ID that would grant them the same rights and benefits as Kenyan citizens.

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