The Dadaab Refugee Complex, located in northeastern Kenya, stands as one of the world's largest refugee camps. Established in 1991 during the Somali Civil War, it primarily houses refugees from Somalia. The complex consists of several camps and has become a long-term solution for millions fleeing conflict, drought, and famine.
It represents a significant humanitarian challenge for Kenya and international organizations, as well as a focal point for discussions on refugee policy and management in East Africa.
Key Facts About Dadaab
- Dadaab was established to accommodate refugees fleeing from the chaos of the Somali Civil War, initially seeing an influx of nearly 400,000 people.
- The complex is made up of several camps, including Hagadera, Ifo, and Dagahaley, which have expanded over time due to continued conflict and instability in Somalia.
- Conditions in Dadaab are often harsh, with limited access to resources such as clean water, healthcare, and education, contributing to ongoing humanitarian crises.
- Despite being designed as temporary shelters, many residents have lived in Dadaab for years or even decades due to the protracted nature of conflicts in Somalia.
- Kenya has faced pressure from international organizations to improve conditions in Dadaab while also grappling with its own political and economic challenges related to hosting a large refugee population.
History and Establishment
People first began arriving at the Dadaab complex shortly after its construction in 1992, with most escaping the Somali Civil War. Dadaab (Somali: Dhadhaab) is a semi-arid town in Garissa County, Kenya.
The Dadaab camps Dagahaley, Hagadera and Ifo were constructed in 1992. The Ifo camp was first settled by refugees from the civil war in Somalia. The UNHCR subsequently made efforts to improve the premises.
As the population of the camps in Dadaab grew, UNHCR commissioned the German architect Werner Schellenberg to draw the original design for Dagahaley Camp. In 2011 and 2013, two new refugee camps were opened when 164,000 new refugees from Somalia arrived, due to severe drought.
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The Ifo II camp extension was originally constructed in 2007 by the Norwegian Refugee Council, in response to major flooding that destroyed over 2,000 homes in the Ifo refugee camp.
Camp Management and Services
When refugees arrive at the camp, they are registered and fingerprinted by the Kenyan government. However, the camps themselves are managed by the UNHCR, with other organizations directly in charge of specific aspects of the residents' lives.
CARE oversees Water and Sanitation Hygiene as well as warehouse management and the World Food Programme (WFP) distributes food rations. Until 2003, only Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) provided refugees with access to health-care. Now, healthcare is decentralized.
Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) provides health care services in ifo refugee camp, International Rescue committee (IRC) in Hagadera and Medicins Sans Frontieres in Dagahley refugee camp.
Demographics
Before the UNHCR base was opened, the local town population traditionally consisted of nomadic ethnic Somali pastoralists, who were mainly camel and goat herders. However, since the 1990s, an influx of refugees has dramatically shifted the demographics of the area.
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Most of the people living in Dadaab have fled various conflicts in the broader Eastern Africa region. The majority have come as a consequence of the civil war in southern Somalia as well as due to droughts. According to Human Rights Watch, most of these displaced persons belong to the Bantu ethnic minority population as well as the Rahanweyn clan.
In 2005, around 97% of registered refugees at Dadaab were Muslims from Somalia. The remainder mainly consisted of Muslims from the Somali Region (Ogaden) in Ethiopia, Ethiopian Christians and Sudanese Christians, totalling 4,000 individuals.
According to the UNHCR, 80% of residents were women and children and 95% were Somalia nationals as of mid-2015. Of the registered refugee population from Somalia, the number of men and women is equal, but only 4% of the total population is over the age of sixty. Each year, thousands of children are born in the Dadaab camps.
Camp Conditions and Infrastructure
The Dadaab refugee camp complex is so vast that it has been compared to a city, with urban features such as high population density, economic activity, and concentration of infrastructure. Like a typical urban area, Dadaab contains public service buildings such as schools and hospitals.
The Ifo II camp, for example, includes religious spaces, a disability centre, police stations, graveyards, a bus station, and more. Refugees in Dadaab typically live in tents, which are made of plastic sheeting and distributed by the UNHCR.
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Although many residents have voluntarily repatriated, the camps are still overcrowded and exceed their intended capacity. With camps filled to capacity, NGOs have worked to improve camp conditions. However, as most urban planners frequently lack the tools to contend with such complex issues, there have been few innovations to improve Dadaab.
Challenges and Humanitarian Issues
Local health risks are complicated by overcrowding. One reason refugees arrive at the camps is displacement caused by natural disasters. Refugees receive food rations containing cereal, legumes, oil, and sugar from the World Food Programme (WFP).
Due to overcrowding and lack of resources, they are not eligible for their initial rations until 12 days after arrival, on average. The rations are generally first distributed to children under the age of five because they are at the greatest health risk.
Markets at each of the camps have fresh food for sale. However, due to limited income opportunities, most residents are unable to afford them. Some have used innovations such as multi-storey gardens to supplement rations.
Deforestation has an effect on the lives of Dadaab's residents. Although they are typically required to remain in the camp, residents often have to venture out in search of firewood and water. In 2006, flooding severely affected the region.
More than 2,000 homes at the Ifo camp were destroyed, forcing the relocation of more than 10,000 refugees. The sole access road to the camp and to the town was also cut off by the floods, impeding the delivery of essential supplies.
Dadaab: The biggest refugee camp in the world is full
Protection and Vulnerability
Refugees at the UNHCR centre are not protected by the Government of Kenya (GOK). This has contributed to dangerous living conditions and outbreaks of violence. Because they are not protected under the law and are unable to possess a Kenyan national identification card, refugees are constantly at risk for arrest.
Additionally, the Kenyan government screens ethnic Somalis and Ethiopians separately from other residents due to their different physical characteristics. While all refugees at the camp are at risk of violence, the UNHCR and CARE have identified women and children as being particularly vulnerable.
They have created a department called 'Vulnerable Women and Children' (VWC) to tackle the issues surrounding violence against these populations. As of August 2015, 60% of Dadaab's total population is under the age of 18, and there are equal numbers of men and women, so women and children make up a significant portion of the camps' demographics.
Specifically, the VWC department has identified orphans, widows, divorcees, rape victims and the disabled as the most vulnerable among all women and children. They offer counselling, additional food rations and supplies, and advice on how to earn an income and be financially self-sufficient.
Education
According to the Kenya Commissioner for Refugees, when migrants first began arriving in Dadaab town from Somalia, they were all educated. An assessment survey completed in 2011 found that access to education in Dadaab was considerably limited, restricting the ability of refugees at the centre to find jobs and become less reliant on aid organizations.
Dadaab had only one secondary school; those who managed to be educated there could receive jobs working for aid agencies such as CARE, WFP, or GTZ that distribute resources to refugees. Those who were uneducated could pursue jobs in restaurants or helping load and unload trucks. Many chose other modes of subsistence.
In response, the Ministry of Education of Somalia announced that all high school students at the centre who were Somali citizens would be eligible for higher education scholarships. To further improve the education standards, a new European Union-funded project was launched in 2013.
The initiative was earmarked for three years, with $4.6 million allocated toward its syllabus. It included new classrooms for all local schools, adult programs, girls' special education, and scholarships for elite students based on merit. The camps schools had over 70,000 students in 2024. Schools are built of stone, and use long white tents for additional space.
Economic Situation and External Pressures
Operations at the complex are financed by foreign donors. Despite this, public perception in Kenya is that refugees in general cause a strain on the economy. Following the Garissa University College attack in April 2015, which resulted in 148 deaths, the Kenyan government asked the UNHCR to repatriate the remaining refugees to a designated area in Somalia within three months.
The proposed closure was reportedly spurred by fear that Al-Shabaab was still recruiting members from Dadaab. Some individuals reported that the anxiety caused by the Kenyan government repeatedly threatening to shut down the camps was enough to convince them to leave.
The Federal Government of Somalia and UNHCR confirmed that the repatriation would continue to be voluntary in accordance with the tripartite agreement, and that eight districts in Somalia from where most of the individuals had come had officially been designated as safe for repatriation.
However, the Kenyan government has intermittently threatened to close down the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps.
Protracted Refugee Situation
Kenya hosts over 491,000 refugees fleeing from persecution in some of the largest refugee camps in the world. Though intended as temporary, many refugees find themselves stuck in these camps for years, sometimes even generations, which then grants them the title of “protracted refugee.” This perpetuation of a limbo state is brought on from continuing threats in their country of origin, existing xenophobia in public spheres, and an inability to establish themselves economically or socially outside of the camp.
Protracted refugees feel a greater sense of social insecurity, increased mental health challenges, and increased vulnerability that can lead to exploitation. While some organizations are working to find more long-term solutions for these refugees through local integration, others are working to increase global awareness of the need for policy changes as well as establishing peace in the refugees’ homelands.
Due to the large number of refugee camps in Kenya and the tense political climate in surrounding areas, there are many protracted refugees in the country.
Instability in Home Countries
The instability and continued threats in home countries result in the prolonged stay of refugees in Kenyan refugee camps. If a refugee’s home country continues to pose a threat or is incapable of providing a safe environment for the refugee to return to, the practice of non-refoulement prohibits the return of refugees to their countries of origin, leaving them to wait in a host country like Kenya until resettlement becomes an option.
The majority of refugees in Kenya (53.7% as of March 2020) are from Somalia.42 Of 97,533 Somali refugees interviewed in 2013 by the Return Help Desk of the Dadaab refugee camp, about 96,369 reported an intention to return to Somalia. However, refugees who fled from Somalia in past years now must remain in the camps as conditions in their country of origin do not allow for a safe return.
Violence in Somalia initiated by the militant rebel group Al-Shabab has led to altercations with the Somali government forces, and civilians often become collateral of such hostile encounters. As refugees within the Kenyan camps continue to hear of these humanitarian crises occurring in their homeland, they are not likely nor able to return home and thus extend their stays in these camps until alternative options are made available to them, thus becoming protracted refugees.
Of all the refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya as of March 2020, 24.7% are South Sudanese, meaning that refugee population would necessitate returning to the conflict area of South Sudan.
Resettlement Challenges
Resettlement rates for refugees within Kenyan camps are very low and the countries in which protracted refugees would resettle have lowered quotas, therefore decreasing the accessibility of resettlement. While refugees hope for resettlement in many situations, less than 1% of refugees around the world are resettled each year.
The United Nations states that “protracted refugee situations stem from political impasses.” While the means of obtaining resettlement approval varies slightly by country, it remains a very rigorous process that requires the intensive involvement of governments, often demanding the collaboration of multiple countries. In order to obtain permission to resettle, refugees must first prove their identity and situation.
Social and Economic Integration Barriers
Feelings of isolation imposed on the refugees through official policies, as well as the complex social strata of the camps, hinder refugees’ abilities to reestablish their identity and inhibit their work towards self-sufficiency, leading to protracted situations.
Kenya’s refugee camps, specifically those of Dadaab and Kakuma, are purposefully built far from local cities or marketplaces. This purposeful separation of refugees from other citizens of the country serves to perpetuate the idea of “us” versus “them” and fuels xenophobic sentiments. Policies enacted in 2012 pushed urban-dwelling refugees into the refugee camps, further publicizing the government’s support for the separation.
Refugees living in these camps subsequently faced social alienation. Though Kenya does have an established plan to allow for naturalization of refugees, the process is rarely put into practice and does not present a realistic option for the refugees seeking a new future.
With this social separation, refugees are not given the opportunity to grow a network or support group that can help them gain self-sufficiency or establish a new life. Even within the camps themselves, refugees can often feel isolated amongst the many different ethnic and cultural groups all accumulated into the same living areas.
There are nine major nationalities represented in Kenyan refugee camps, with many more tribes and clans creating additional subgroups of cultures. Without shared traditions, backgrounds, or languages, these refugees face even more obstacles when trying to establish a normality within camp life. Many refugees come without family and, as of March 2020, 53.6% of refugees in Kenya were children. These demographic groups have no built-in ties of support for them to hold to during this time of transition.
By failing to provide opportunities for the refugees to become economically self-reliant, Kenyan refugee camps perpetuate protracted refugee situations. Refugees within these camps must continue to find economic support from outside parties, rather than building their own self-sufficiency. Without the means to leave the camp or reestablish themselves elsewhere, refugees prolong their stay in the camp, which leads to protracted refugee situations.
The UN cites self-reliance as the basis for refugees obtaining durable solutions, and economic self-reliance is at the core of this claim. Many refugees in camps are unable to hold a job, and they are subsequently held back by law from creating their own working economy or marketplace. These restraints prevent any indication of permanence.
Many individuals in Kenya view refugee participation in the economy as being the cause of increased insecurity and decreased economic opportunity and employment. Citing security reasons, Kenyan authorities called for restricted movement of refugees in and out of the camps.
This restricted movement and anti-refugee sentiment stops much economic integration with local Kenyans, as refugees who leave the camps without authorization face the possibility of 6-month jail time and a fine of 20,000 Kenyan shillings (roughly $200 USD). Moreover, it is also illegal for refugees to work in Kenya without a work permit. These work permits are not freely given to refugees within the camp, and so refugees who seek work outside of the camp risk their own safety among local citizens, police, and militants.
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