“Structural Violence And Encampment Policy In Kenya: The Case Of Urban Refugees In Nairobi Metropolitan Region”
Country of Study
Kenya
Institution
Kenyatta University
Expected Year of Completion
2023
Thematic Area
Gender, Rights and Governance
Education
Lilian is pursuing her PhD in International Relations, Conflict and Strategic Studies, at Kenyatta University in Kenya, and teaches at Kianda School. She has an MA in Diplomacy and International Relations from Kenyatta University and is expected to complete her studies in 2023.
Research Summary
Lilian’s research adds to the body of knowledge by linking some of the violation of human rights of refugees to the encampment policy. It argues that the encampment policy as a national security policy has generated structural vulnerabilities that affect the wellbeing of urban refugees. This particular research seeks to make a novel contribution by interrogating the nexus between global security structures, encampment policy in Kenya, structural vulnerabilities and conditions of urban refugees.
It will interrogate existing legal and policy responses to refugee affairs and how these policies can be analysed as part of international structures. The study seeks to place the human conditions of urban refugees in Nairobi within international relations, theorising particularly structural realism, a dimension which dominant researchers have not explored. Her argument is that the conditions of urban refugees, from their point of departure to prevailing circumstances, are products of global structures. This study will contribute to the policy and programs that respond to conditions of urban refugees.
Publications:
1. China-Kenya Foreign Aid Relations: Examining Its Possible Links with Kenya’s Human Rights Profile
2. China-Kenya Relations: An Analysis of its Nature since Independence
3. Construction of Refugees and Asylum Seeking in Kenya: A Historical Appraisal