IDPs - IRIN report 3/14/2008

KENYA: Displaced women "still facing threat of sexual violence"

The risk of rape and sexual abuse remains high for thousands of young girls and women displaced by Kenya's post-election crisis in January and February, an assessment by three agencies has found.

Detailing the findings of the rapid assessment of gender-based violence (GBV) suffered in camps, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Christian Children's Fund (CCF), said the women had repeatedly expressed fears of sexual violence because of makeshift sleeping arrangements, where men and women were forced to sleep under one tent or out in the open.

Full report http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77199


KENYA: Reconciliation key to returning home, say IDPs

Joseph Mbatia, an internally displaced person (IDP) in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, would like to return home to Mathare, one of the city's larger slums, but only if reconciliation is part of the deal.

"It is well and good to see our leaders at the national level shake hands and agree to work together but the situation on the ground has not changed; I cannot go back home because no one has addressed the reasons for my displacement," Mbatia told IRIN on 12 March at the Mathare police post depot which he, and 648 other IDPs, have called home since 29 December when post-election violence erupted in parts of the country.

Full report http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77241