LGBT community living in fear of attacks in Kenyan refugee camp

Ugandan refugees Suzan Nakajiri and Eva Nabagala (R), both members of the LGBT community, hold hands inside their shelter at the Kakuma refugee camp, in Turkana county, northwest of Nairobi, Kenya February 22, 2020. Nabagala hoped she and her young...more

Reuters / Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Ugandan refugees Suzan Nakajiri and Eva Nabagala (R), both members of the LGBT community, hold hands inside their shelter at the Kakuma refugee camp, in Turkana county, northwest of Nairobi, Kenya February 22, 2020. Nabagala hoped she and her young son would be safe from her family when they fled Uganda for a Kenyan refugee camp - but instead, the 28-year-old says she was attacked and raped there as punishment for being a lesbian. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

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"I have been threatened with death, I have been beaten, I have been harassed sexually, and I have been sexually abused, raped," Eva Nabagala (C) told Reuters by phone. Nabagala said she and her now two-year-old son Imran Batte (pictured) came to...more

Reuters / Tuesday, April 28, 2020

"I have been threatened with death, I have been beaten, I have been harassed sexually, and I have been sexually abused, raped," Eva Nabagala (C) told Reuters by phone. Nabagala said she and her now two-year-old son Imran Batte (pictured) came to Kenya in 2018 after her family threatened to kill her because she is a lesbian. "I ran from my home ... because I wanted to be safe, I wanted protection, but it has turned into something the opposite," she said. Nabagala left the camp but was raped again in Mombasa, where she had gone seeking shelter, so she came back. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

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Ugandan refugee Suzan Nakajiri stands among LGBT companions at the Kakuma refugee camp. A group of around 300 gay, lesbian and transgender refugees in Kakuma refugee camp in northwestern Kenya say other refugees repeatedly attack them because of...more

Reuters / Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Ugandan refugee Suzan Nakajiri stands among LGBT companions at the Kakuma refugee camp. A group of around 300 gay, lesbian and transgender refugees in Kakuma refugee camp in northwestern Kenya say other refugees repeatedly attack them because of their sexual orientation. The group say police and the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, have failed to protect them. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

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Ugandan refugees Kimuli Brian and Dennis Wasswa embrace each other inside their shelter at the Kakuma refugee camp. UNHCR Kenya told Reuters that police investigate reports of violence, assault, or other crimes and UNHCR offers support to survivors....more

Reuters / Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Ugandan refugees Kimuli Brian and Dennis Wasswa embrace each other inside their shelter at the Kakuma refugee camp. UNHCR Kenya told Reuters that police investigate reports of violence, assault, or other crimes and UNHCR offers support to survivors. "Whenever we are informed ... we do our utmost to provide medical, legal and social-economic support and psychosocial counseling to survivors," the agency said. Kenya's national police spokesman Charles Owino said he was unaware of any violence against the group of refugees. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

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Ugandan refugees Kambugu Mubarak, Muheeza Jumapili Frank, Kikongo Andrew and Mulumba Musa, members of the LGBT community, are seen at the Kakuma refugee camp. Stephen Sebuuma, another Ugandan refugee in Kakuma, said refugees armed with iron bars,...more

Reuters / Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Ugandan refugees Kambugu Mubarak, Muheeza Jumapili Frank, Kikongo Andrew and Mulumba Musa, members of the LGBT community, are seen at the Kakuma refugee camp. Stephen Sebuuma, another Ugandan refugee in Kakuma, said refugees armed with iron bars, sticks and machetes damaged their houses on three occasions, injuring four adults and two children. "Police insult us instead of helping us," Sebuuma, 32, told Reuters by phone. Pictures Sebuuma and another refugee sent to Reuters from the camp showed holes punched in the walls of homes made of corrugated iron. Kambungu Mubarak (pictured), 31, said the attackers also burnt two houses. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

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Members of the LGBT community are seen at the Kakuma refugee camp. UNHCR Kenya said as soon as they were informed of the attack, they contacted Kenya's Refugee Affairs Secretariat, and sent an ambulance. UNHCR also contacted police, who had started...more

Reuters / Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Members of the LGBT community are seen at the Kakuma refugee camp. UNHCR Kenya said as soon as they were informed of the attack, they contacted Kenya's Refugee Affairs Secretariat, and sent an ambulance. UNHCR also contacted police, who had started investigations, the agency said. But Sebuuma said the police never helped them. "We have written complaints, people have gotten OBs (Occurrence Book reports) from police. So many of them, and police even sometimes chase us, saying 'we are tired of you'," he said. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

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Burundian refugee Mousa applies lipstick at the Kakuma refugee camp. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

Reuters / Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Burundian refugee Mousa applies lipstick at the Kakuma refugee camp. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

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Members of the LGBT community are seen at the Kakuma refugee camp. Same-sex relationships are punishable in Kenya by 14 years in jail. It is rarely enforced but discrimination is common. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

Reuters / Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Members of the LGBT community are seen at the Kakuma refugee camp. Same-sex relationships are punishable in Kenya by 14 years in jail. It is rarely enforced but discrimination is common. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

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Congolese refugee Batundi Safari and Ugandan refugee Peter Nsubuga, both members of the LGBT community, sit inside their shelter at the Kakuma refugee camp. Kenya also requires refugees to stay in camps, and on Tuesday the government announced it was...more

Reuters / Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Congolese refugee Batundi Safari and Ugandan refugee Peter Nsubuga, both members of the LGBT community, sit inside their shelter at the Kakuma refugee camp. Kenya also requires refugees to stay in camps, and on Tuesday the government announced it was suspending all movements in and out of camps and the resettlement of refugees in a bid to stem the spread of the new coronavirus. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

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Ugandan refugees Ninshaba Erigalda, Shamim and Winnie Nabaterega pose for a photograph inside their shelter at the Kakuma refugee camp. Nabaterega, 23, told Reuters by phone that she fled Uganda in 2019 after being raped and becoming pregnant. Her...more

Reuters / Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Ugandan refugees Ninshaba Erigalda, Shamim and Winnie Nabaterega pose for a photograph inside their shelter at the Kakuma refugee camp. Nabaterega, 23, told Reuters by phone that she fled Uganda in 2019 after being raped and becoming pregnant. Her father pressurized her to marry her attacker. Her daughter, now two, lives with her. She is constantly threatened by other refugees, she said. "We were told because we were homosexuals ... they would put poison in the water," she said. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

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Ugandan refugee Dennis Wasswa sits by the door of a shelter at the Kakuma refugee camp. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

Reuters / Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Ugandan refugee Dennis Wasswa sits by the door of a shelter at the Kakuma refugee camp. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

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Burundian refugee Jacqueline Ngirusanga and Rwandese refugee Alice embrace each other by the door of their shelter at the Kakuma refugee camp. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

Reuters / Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Burundian refugee Jacqueline Ngirusanga and Rwandese refugee Alice embrace each other by the door of their shelter at the Kakuma refugee camp. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

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