Former UK minister backs plan to close down Dadaab refugee camp

LONDON

A former British Foreign secretary, who now heads one of the world’s largest relief organisations, has backed Kenya’s controversial plan to close Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee camp.

Mr David Miliband told the Guardian newspaper that there should be an end to the system of creating massive refugee camps in countries such as Kenya, Tanzania and Turkey, saying that these “were designed for yesterday’s problems not tomorrow’s”.

Mr Miliband, who is the president and chief executive of the US-based International Rescue Committee, where he oversees the agency’s humanitarian relief operations in more than 30 war-affected countries, said wealthy nations should accept the most vulnerable 10 per cent of the world’s 19.5 million refugees.

He added that the rich countries should provide economic support to less wealthy countries such as Kenya and Tanzania to integrate new arrivals as full-time residents.

In a specific reference to Dadaab, which houses 330,000 foreigners, mainly Somalis, Mr Miliband, said there should be a “new deal” for poorer countries that host refugees.

“The new bargain is that a small number of people – probably up to 10 per cent of refugees, the most vulnerable — are moved to the richer countries in the West and elsewhere, because of their medical needs, because they’re orphans, etc,” he said.

But he also said the answer was not to push the refugees back to the country from which they had fled since “the only real hope for them is to become productive residents of the countries that they’ve fled to”.

“That’s a massive call on the countries concerned, but if we can ensure they get international financial support and build up their economies, then it becomes a chance to avoid the kind of Dadaab situation of long-term housing of people in places that become magnets for criminality, never mind for terrorism.”

The UN estimates that there are currently around 60 million people exiled from their homes and nearly 20 million living as refugees, more than half of whom are children.

Mr Miliband said German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s policy of opening her country’s doors to refugees despite the political backlash was right and he blamed other European countries for not supporting her.

“Camp-based temporary relief is not going to be the way of the future,” Mr Miliband said.

“The way of the future is get these people into work, get their children into an education, make them part of society as residents and it’s up to the countries concerned. Get them in a position where they can eventually go back if the war ever ends.”

Meanwhile, the UK-based international news magazine The Economist has suggested that finance not the fear of terrorism is at the root cause of Kenya’s decision to close the refugee camp.