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A refugee rights advocacy agency has raised the alarm over the worsening humanitarian crisis in Kakuma Refugee Camp and Kalobeyei Settlement following the reduction of food rations that have sparked deadly protests and suicides among refugees.

The US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) said it is deeply disturbed by reports it received on the current situation in Kenya’s second refugee camp, which has been home to 283,112 refugees for over three decades.

USCRI said in a statement that it received credible information from refugees in the camp detailing a dreadful reality following World Food Programme (WFP) cuts to food rations.

“There is a hidden humanitarian crisis happening in Kakuma and Kalobeyei, and as the world looks away, human beings are being starved to death and robbed of their dignity,” said USCRI President and CEO Eskinder Negash.

 “Cuts to food rations and other resources have left refugees in complete desperation. The international community must act now.”

Refugee influx

 According to the agency, Kakuma and Kalobeyei continue to receive large influxes of refugees who fled for their lives from escalating conflict and crises in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and around the region.

“As thousands of new arrivals seek refuge in the camp, the population in Kakuma and Kalobeyei has climbed to hundreds of thousands of people, many of them children. Emerging details describe people arriving at the camp nearly or completely naked, hungry, and in dire need of support,” the statement read in part.

It adds: “Instead of safety and protection, refugees are finding starvation. Food rations have now been cut by 60 per cent, leaving refugees with 1,000 Kenyan Shillings per month – the equivalent of about seven dollars. Cash assistance in Kakuma was suspended altogether.”

Child shot dead

The agency alleged that protests erupted in Kakuma and Kalobeyei following news of the cuts where it was reported that a child was shot and killed in Kakuma, and another left critically injured during the unrest.

Further, USCRI said that suicide attempts in the community have increased, with at least three people reported to have died by suicide in Kakuma in April alone and most recently, a single mother of seven children.

“I have received pleas for survival from individuals in the camp as this bleak situation becomes a rock bottom of our humanity,” said Negash. “Selective humanity will always lead to unimaginable catastrophe. An increase in global humanitarian needs is not an excuse to abandon the most vulnerable. Governments and other donors must act urgently to restore funding and ensure that people can meet basic needs.”

USCRI implored WFP to urgently restore food rations in Kakuma and Kalobeyei to reverse the crisis. It also called on donor governments and the international community to take immediate action to secure funding and restore the WFP budget in Kenya’s refugee camps.

USCRI says her commitment to humanitarian and advocacy causes for refugees and migrants is evident through her past contribution to the African Migration and Development Policy Centre and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Africa.

USCRI was founded in 1911 to protect the rights and address the needs of persons in forced or voluntary migration worldwide and support their transition to a dignified life.