UN’s Guterres vows ‘active advocacy’ for refugees facing refoulement after Turks deported from Kenya

UN Secretary-General António Guterres reaffirmed the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) commitment to advocating against the forced return of refugees, in comments concerning Turkish nationals recently deported by Kenya, guaranteeing “active advocacy,” Turkish Minute reported.

Kenya forcibly returned four refugees, who were sought by Turkish authorities due to their alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement, to Turkey after they were abducted by masked men in Nairobi in October, citing an extradition request from the Turkish government.

They were refugees registered with the UNHCR who were protected from forcible return to Turkey, where they claimed they face threats to their life and freedom due to their links to the Gülen movement, accused by the Turkish government of orchestrating a coup attempt in Turkey in July 2016 and labeled as a “terrorist organization.” The movement strongly denies any involvement in the coup or any terrorist activities.

Their deportation attracted widespread criticism from human rights groups for violating the principle of non-refoulement, a fundamental principle of international law guaranteed in the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, also known as the Geneva Convention.

Guterres, during a joint media briefing with South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola in Pretoria on Wednesday, replied to a question from Turkish Minute about Kenya’s deportation of the four Turkish nationals to Turkey, which was justified by the Kenyan government due to its strategic ties with Turkey.

Guterres acknowledged in his reply that during his tenure as UN High Commissioner for Refugees from 2005 to 2015, there were multiple violations of the principle of non-refoulement and that UNHCR lacks the authority to prevent such violations of international law, which he said is “many times” violated.

“But what I can guarantee is that UNHCR will maintain a very active advocacy. … In my contacts with UNHCR, they have strongly denounced any form of refoulement,” Guterres said.

The Kenyan foreign ministry said in a statement on October 21 that it had agreed to Turkey’s request to repatriate the four refugees — Mustafa Genç, Öztürk Uzun, Alparslan Taşçı and Hüseyin Yeşilsu — because of the country’s “robust historical and strategic relations” with Turkey, and that it had been assured the refugees would be “treated with dignity.”

UNHCR in a statement at the time urged the government of Kenya to abide by their international legal obligations and in particular to respect the principle of non-refoulment, which protects asylum-seekers and refugees from any measure that could lead to their removal to a place where their life or freedom would be threatened.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement since the corruption investigations of December 17-25, 2013, which implicated then-prime minister Erdoğan, his family members and his inner circle.

Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan designated the movement as a terrorist organization and began to target its members. He intensified the crackdown on the movement following the abortive putsch.

According to official data, Turkey has sent 1,964 extradition requests to 116 countries since the attempt, and more than 110 alleged members of the movement have been brought back to Turkey as part of the government’s global campaign.

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