NAIROBI, Kenya, June 17 (UPI) -- Kenyan police have abused Somali refugees, forcing some to return to Somalia when they could not pay large bribes, a report said Thursday.
Human Rights Watch, in a 99-page report, "'Welcome To Kenya': Police Abuse of Somali Refugees," said Somalis trying to reach three refugee camps in Kenya near the border were illegally prosecuted for "unlawful presence," detained in inhumane conditions and arbitrarily arrested. The group urged the Kenyan government to bring police under control and said the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees should step up its monitoring of the treatment of Somalis.
Women face another danger, sexual assault, the report said.
The border between Somalia and Kenya is officially closed, but about 40,000 refugees made their way across it in the first four months of 2010, Human Rights Watch says. Dozens were allegedly forced back to Somalia when they could not meet extortion demands.
"People fleeing the mayhem in Somalia, the vast majority women and children, are welcomed to Kenya with rape, whippings, beatings, detention, extortion and summary deportation," said Gerry Simpson, the principal author of the report. "Once in the camps, some refugees face more police violence and the police turn a blind eye to sexual violence by other refugees and local Kenyans."
