Jade Wilson. Ugandan members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender LGBT community, are seen at the Kakuma refugee camp, in Turkana county, northwest of Nairobi, Kenya February 22, There are more than , asylum seekers in Kenya whose refugee status has not yet been determined, the United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR said this month.
The U. Kenya is viewed as a relatively safe haven for Ugandans fleeing persecution for their sexual and gender identity. But asylum seekers told Context they still feel unsafe in the East African nation.
The government's Department of Refugee Services is responsible for registering applications and determining refugee status in Kenya. The refugee commissioner for Kenya, John Burugu, has said he does not recognise persecution for sexuality or gender as grounds for asylum. Sexual identity "will not be a measure of convincing us to admit someone who fails to meet the threshold of being admitted as a refugee or asylum seeker," he told Context in a telephone interview in September.
Asylum seekers who meet the legal definition set by Kenya's Refugees Act would be granted protection after due process, Burugu said. The average time to process an asylum application in Kenya is about 12 months, according to Burugu.
The resettlement process involves transferring refugees from the country where they first seek asylum to a third country that agrees to admit them as refugees with permanent residence status. This process is not a right available to all refugees and is based on protection needs.
