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Kenya

Frequently Asked Questions on IDPs in Kenya

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Who is considered an IDP in Kenya?

The Government of Kenya (GoK) uses the UN Guiding Principles on Displacement to define an Internally Displaced Person (IDP). According to the UN, "IDPs are persons or a group of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid effects of armed conflict, situation of generalised violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognised State border".

Internal displacement in Kenya is attributed to five key factors :

- Politically influenced violence

- Natural disasters (floods, landslides, drought)

- Cultural inter-clan conflicts

- Social/Communal tensions

- Climate-Change induced displacement

The announcement of the Presidential election results on 30 December 2007 led to widespread violence across Kenya. The violence which took on an ethnic dimension lasted for nearly two weeks and left Kenya facing an unprecedented level of displacement of its own people. The Ministry of State for Special Programmes, in its most recent update on the status of IDPs states that 663,921 people were displaced from the orgy of violence. Of that number, 313, 921 IDPs fled to host communities and integrated within those communities for months to come. The other 350, 000 internally displaced sought refuge in 118 camps. Thousands still remain displaced. An estimated 78, 254 houses were burnt countrywide. The government further estimates that 1, 300 lost their lives in the post-election melee.Furthermore, thousands of Kenyans fled to Uganda and Tanzania and became refugees. UNHCR estimates by October 2009, 1990 Kenyans were registered refugees in Uganda, out of which 449 have returned back to Kenya as at 4th February 2010.

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