In an important series of 5 episodes aired on 29 June 2014, LGBTQIA+ rights activist, Victor Mukasa, provided context to the violence in the Kakuma Refugee Camp, using his TV platform, Kuchu TV. The episodes highlighted that the central issue for LGBTQIA+ refugees in the Camp was the violence perpetrated against them because they were not protected by the UNHRC (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) or the Kenyan Government or Police Services.
The violence the Kuchu TV series focused on was the incidents of stonings, beatings, poisonings and verbal abuse perpetrated against the more than 45 Ugandan LGBTQIA+ residents in the Kakuma Camp. Victor speaks about the violence that occurred on Friday the 27th of June, where one of the Ugandan refugees was attacked by a group of refugees. He was beaten up badly because, according to the other refugees, he committed the crime of being gay. Statements by other refugees included the argument that
“This camp is for refugees. It is not for wild animals.”
The group of attacking refugees followed the victim back to his group of fellow LGBTQI+ Ugandan refugees and began beating them too. The victims ran to the security of the Camp. The security, instead of protecting them, asked them why they showed that they were gay, thus blaming the victims for their own beatings. Not receiving help from security, the victims marched out of the Camp for two hours to the offices of the UNHRC in search of protection. This protection was not provided to them by the UNHRC. Victor goes into more detail about the situation in the videos below.
In a 2023 report, “Kenya: ‘Justice Like Any Other Person’ — Hate Crimes and Discrimination Against LGBTI Refugees”, Amnesty International and the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (NGLHRC) documented the hate crimes faced by LGBTI refugees and those refugees in the Kakuma Camp.
An article by Amnesty International states that
“Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) asylum seekers and refugees living in one of Kenya’s biggest refugee camps routinely suffer hate crimes, violence, including rape, and other serious human rights abuses, the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (NGLHRC) and Amnesty International said in a joint report. ‘LGBTI individuals in Kakuma camp have suffered physical and sexual violence and other serious human rights abuses, including violations of their right to be free from torture and ill-treatment, because of their sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, or sexual characteristics,’ said Victor Nyamori, Amnesty International’s Researcher and Advisor on Refugee and Migrants Rights. Such hate crimes are a criminal manifestation of the discrimination LGBTI refugees and asylum seekers face.
The testimonies collected in the Report point to systematic and pervasive inaction by police in Kakuma refugee camp to effectively, promptly, independently, and thoroughly investigate allegations of hate crimes reported by LGBTI asylum seekers and refugees.
Esther, a 41-year-old lesbian woman, reported being raped twice in Kakuma camp. In early 2018, she was attacked by two men carrying knives while she was showering in a plot near the camp gate. One raped her while the other held her down. Later that year, she was raped a second time by four men during a burglary at her house, in the presence of her seven-year-old son with whom she was sharing a bed.
Winnie, a lesbian woman, had a business in the market, where LGBTI friends used to buy. She told the researchers that one day in 2019 she was away from work and left one of her children to take care of the business. A group of people destroyed the stall and injured the child, saying that the LGBTI customers were affecting other businesses. When she went to report the crime, the police told her to look for the attackers and bring them to the police station to be arrested.”
Victor worked with the refugees in July 2014 again due to more violence against the Kuchu refugees. Read more about the Kakuma Refugee Camp here.