LGBT Refugees Report Attacks in Kenya’s Kakuma Camp. A Rights Group Calls for Safe Shelter for LGBT People Fleeing the Fighting in Ethiopia

On November 5, the rights group PRIDE Centre called on humanitarian agencies to provide safe shelter and access to aid for LGBT refugees who have been fleeing to Kenya since October because of fighting in Ethiopia’s Oromia and Somali regions. According to Kenya Red Cross figures cited by the group, nearly 48,000 people had crossed the border by November 2. PRIDE Centre estimates that at least 2,400 of them are LGBT.

LGBT refugees in Kenya’s Kakuma camp report attacks and discrimination. According to PRIDE Centre figures reported by Erasing 76 Crimes on November 9, many leave the camp for towns and cities, while several hundred have gone to South Sudan in the hope of obtaining refugee status and aid.

Geographical magazine reported in September on attacks in South Sudan’s Gorom refugee settlement, near the capital, Juba. People interviewed by the magazine described beatings and attacks at water collection points. A spokesperson for the UN refugee agency told the magazine that the settlement stopped registering new arrivals on June 22.