Betrayal of the Vulnerable: Politics and Issues in Refugee Diplomacy
Refugee politics involves the national and international decision-making process regarding the admission, treatment, and administration of refugees as well as the negotiations determining their fate (Benard, 1986). When Ethiopia went into the current crisis stemming from its rebellious Tigray region, Kenya rushed to close its border with Ethiopia stating that there was need to check against illegal influx of immigrants. Kenya has also on several occasions threatened to close Dadaab and Kakuma settlements housing over 400,000 refugees amidst its row with Somalia. Kenyan security officials argue that the two refugee camps have become recruiting grounds for the terrorist group al-Shabab and bases for planning violent attacks inside Kenya. It is important to note that the September 11 th , 2001, attacks by the militant Islamist terrorist group al-Qaeda against the United States accelerated the securitization of the refugee issue (Cooper et al, 2013). The issue of how to deal with refugee