User:Gblack207/sandbox

Population
The camp was originally intended to hold 90,000 people, but there are more than 400,000 currently in the camp. On July 29, 2012, UN reported there were 473,597 people in Dadaab. There were 75,970 children in school, with 59,585 in primary school (60% boys) and 3,295 in secondary school (77% boys). There were 1384 teachers. More than 50% of the children are not in school.

As of February 2013, there are 406,843 registered Somali refugees comprising of 113,718 household. Dadaab consists of several different camps with the following population counts as of 2/10/2013: Dagahaley (97,725), Hagadera (137,276), Ifo (90,941), Ifo 2 East (29,878), Ifo 2 West (32,671), Kambioos (18,352).

47% of the population is male, 51% female. 30% of the total population is 17 years old or younger. 8% of the population are males age 0-4; 14% are age 5-11; 8% are age 12-17; 17% are age 18-54; and 2% are age 60+. For women: 8% of the population are age 0-4; 13% are age 5-11; 7% are age 12-17; 22% are age 18-54; 2% are age 60+.

Life in the Camp
At first glance, life in the camp seems like a good place to get shelter, food, and aid. Dadaab has grocery stores, cinemas, hotels, and international bus offices. There are butchers who provide meat, café owners, beauty salons, a theatre group, and youth offices where young people learn computers and information technology, even Facebook. Dadaab has its first millionaire, who owned 15 shops including a pharmacy, electronic and grocery stores in July 2012.

When a refugee arrives, they are exhausted, sick and starving. There are crowds waiting to get a cup of flour and biscuits. Then they go through registration, getting fingerprinted, photographed, and catalogued.

The camp was designed for emergency care but most come long-term. There are many individuals who have not been outside the camp since it opened in 1991. Camp residents cannot travel into the rest of Kenya. In November 2010, Dadaab had 6000 3rd generation refugees.

The camp is cut off from the Kenyan national grid. It relies on boreholes for water. There is a shortage of schools, health centers, and water stations. In a Doctors Without Borders report from June 2012, camp refugees reported overcrowding, water shortages, poor shelter, and a shortage of food and clothing, and up to 12% of children were at risk for malnutrition. In July 2012, fire swept through the market of Dagahaley camp and destroyed 80% of the market. It was also reported in October 2012, that cholera and hepatitis E was emerging in the camp as the problem of lack of shelter and sanitation increased.

One of the biggest recent problems in Dadaab is violence. Between February-May 2012, there was a 36% rise in sexual violence, primarily against women and girls. In July 2012, banditing was reported to be a major concern and police have been reluctant to go into the camps, resulting in a sense of general lawlessness. IEDs (improvised explosive devices) were planted in the camps in July 2012, targeting the police. In addition, Islamic militants have targeted foreign workers and Kenyan security forces in their sporadic attacks. In December 2012, Kenya commissioned all Somali refugees and asylum seekers to be moved into Dadaab refugee camp. This was allegedly a response to attacks carried out by a variety of Islamic Somali terrorist groups.

Emigration from Dadaab
Approximately 100 refugees leave Dadaab each week. An increasing amount have departed due to security concerns, and there has been a rise in gang violence, particularly in Ifo 2 Camp. There have been multiple instances of gang rape and robbery which Dominik Bartsch, head of operations in Dadaab for the UN refugee agency, says that these arise from bandits that live near the camp, and come at night to rob refugees.

In 2012, four members of the Norwegian Refugee Council were kidnapped at Dadaab, and were eventually recovered alive.

In its Kenya operations profile, the UNHCR has declared in its strategies and activities for 2013 that it will seek to protect access to international shelter for refuge seekers and access to asylum. In addition, it will seek to maintain a noncombatant nature in the camps, and further refugee access to fundamental amenities. Lastly, the UNHCR of Kenya has also stated that one of its goals for 2013 is to have “3,700 identified individuals depart for resettlement.”.

Many Somali immigrant who have left Dadaab have settled in the United States, in particular Minneapolis, Minnesota (which holds the highest amount of Somali immigrants, at 80,000). The second largest place of residency for immigrants from Dadaab is Columbus, Ohio. While many in these communities have become educated professionals, others struggle to make ends meet.