Friday, October 25, 2024 - The Commissioner of Refugees John Burugu has told asylum seekers and refugees that they have six days to surrender their passports.
The Department of Refugee Services had on
September 30 directed refugees and asylum seekers to surrender their passports
within 30 days.
The department in a post on X made a reminder
that only six days are left to the lapse of the given deadline.
“Reminder: Only six days left to surrender
passports from the country of origin, as per the DRS Kenya directive. Kindly
comply," it said in a tweet.
According to Burugu, failure to do this will
lead to legal consequences, including losing their refugee status and expulsion
from the country.
In the directive, Burugu explained that the
Department noted that some refugees, despite having Conventional Travel
Documents (CTDs), which they can use to travel to any country outside Kenya, have been using passports from their country of origin.
The CTDs are machine-readable and issued by
the Department of Refugee Services.
“It has come to the attention of the
Department of Refugee Services that some Refugees and asylum seekers are using
passports from their country of origin for travelling outside the country,”
Burugu said in a notice dated September 30.
“Accordingly, pursuant to the United Nations
1951 Convention and the Refugees Act No. 10 of 2021, all refugees and asylum
seekers in Kenya are hereby required to surrender the passports from their
country of origin to the Department of Refugee Services within 30 days from the
date of this notice.”
The Kenyan DAILY POST
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