Kakuma, Kenya — “We are seeing many [Sudanese refugees] come into Kenya to benefit from the system in Kakuma [refugee camp],” says Emmanuel Nyabera, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). “We are encouraging them to go back to Sudan to be part of the reconstruction process,” he adds.

UNHCR plans to repatriate 20,000 refugees to Sudan this year. UNHCR came to the decision with Kenyan and Sudanese government officials on February 27 to do everything in their powers to persuade repatriation of refugees back to Sudan.

For Sudanese seeking asylum in bordering Kenya, repatriation means going back to a country that still lacks many social services, such as formal education. “Southern Sudan was not developed by the government in the first place and it was destroyed by the war. When they go back they must begin reconstructing from zero,” says Mwumvaneza Azarias, headmaster of Bortown Secondary School in Kakuma refugee camp in Northern Kenya.

The UNHCR compound in Kakuma is currently focusing on digitally fingerprinting the Sudanese population, the largest cluster in the camp. They have fingerprinted over 52,375 people since starting the process last March. Out of the 81,930 refugees and asylum seekers in the camp, 63,086 of them fled Sudan. Most come from the Jonglei State in southern Sudan. This group is amongst the first to be repatriated. The digital imprints will give UNHCR a more accurate assessment of how many people reside in the camp.

The High Commissioner chose Kakuma camp, in the Turkana district of Kenya, as the first to implement the digital fingerprinting system to identify refugees. Soon they will have a digital imprint of every refugee in every camp worldwide.

The identification office in Kakuma currently processes about 700 people a day. Outside the gates of UNHCR about 100 people stand or sit, waiting to be admitted. Some 60 others mill about on the opposite side of the fence, while another group the same size sit just outside the processing office. One mother breastfeeds her child.

They all must be registered, have their photos taken, given a number, and then added to a database, allowing UNHCR to determine who the refugees are, where they come from, their health record and if they’ve registered before under a different name. Anyone above the age of four (when minutia has developed on the fingertip) must undergo the procedure. The majority are under 30 years old.

Although UNHCR fingerprints all Sudanese, they are no longer registering new arrivals from Sudan. Instead they are allowed to stay in the camp as asylum seekers. Asylum seekers do not have access to schooling or to rations from the World Food Program, among other social services.

Refugees have been travelling back and forth between Kakuma in Kenya, and their homes in Sudan, on false identities reports UNHCR. The Commission has deactivated 13,500 cards since the fingerprinting process started.

“We saw some of the refugees were cheating the system,” says Nyabera. Many were using multiple identity cards to receive extra food rations from the World Food Program, which they feel are inadequate. UNHCR has also closed three primary schools, one secondary school and the Windle Trust teacher-training program in the same period of time. “We’re finding that the reason for them to stay is schooling,” said Syed Hussain, Head of Sub Office for UNHCR at a meeting with Canadian officials in Kakuma last month.

Richard Fadden, Canadian Deputy Minister of Immigration, made a half-day stop in Kakuma last month. He believes that digital imprinting is a positive step for UNHCR. “It’s going to permit them to detect fraud. And in the end, it’s not a bad thing, because donor countries, like Canada, will benefit from knowing exactly how many people are under the High Commissioner,” said Fadden.

Alice, mother of three, lives in Dadaab refugee camp in Eastern Kenya. “I’m fearful of going back to Sudan,” says Alice. “I don’t know if the fighting will start again. I want my children to get an education,” she says.

Alice was forced to flee Equatoria, Sudan in 2000 after her husband left her to join the forces. She was living in Kakuma until her husband’s brother attempted to abduct her children to bring them back to Sudan, prompting her to move camps.

The 1951 Geneva Convention suggests governments act in international cooperation in order that refugees may find asylum and the possibility of resettlement. The Convention also states that no refugee should be returned to the territories where that person’s life or freedom would be threatened.

For many Sudanese, going for fingerprints means repatriation to a country lacking infrastructure and security. For others, who are stuck in the camp, it means receiving bimonthly WFP provisions of maize, oil, sugar and soap.

Carmelle Wolfson

Carmelle Wolfson

Carmelle Wolfson is a journalist based in Toronto. Her work can be found here.