Ms. Abi Gitari

"Lack of security and a policy framework on which refugee issues can be addressed has compounded refugee problems in East Africa," Abi Gitari, the executive director of the Refugee Consortium of Kenya (RCK), told IRIN on Monday."There is need to have laws or policies that can harmonise refugee management at the regional level," she said.

The refugee protection policy issue was the theme of a conference held last week in Mombasa, Kenya's port city, which brought together about 70 members of parliament (MPs) from Kenya, Uganda and the recently revived East African Community (EAC) to discuss ways of developing laws and policies for refugee management in the region.The four-day "Protecting Refugee Rights in East Africa" conference, which opened on 17 April, was told that although the three East African countries, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, were together hosting several hundred thousand refugees from conflict-prone countries in the region, governments had dealt with refugee issues on an "ad hoc" basis.The lack of comprehensive policies addressing refugee problems has also meant that the protection of refugees largely depends on the goodwill of their host governments, thereby rendering refugees vulnerable to violations, according to Gitari.

The conference, jointly sponsored by RCK, the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (LCHR), and the Refugee Law Project of Uganda, with support from the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), hoped to provide the MPs with "a comprehensive understanding of refugee issues in the region"."It was a very successful meeting, because we are getting the attention we needed for refugee issues," Gitari told IRIN.

Among the issues in Kenya were violence (including the rape and murder of some refugees), poor living standards, inadequate facilities, insecurity and inadequate space for continually rising numbers of refugees, according to Abi Gitari of the Refugee Consortium of Kenya, quoted by the Federation.

Ms Abi Gitari: is the former and founder Executive Director of RCK.She served RCK for a period of five years.Previously Ms Gitari worked with Amnesty International, British Section and Jesuit Refuge Services as Country Director.She has an international outlook to refuge issues and brings to RCK a wealth of experience in refugee advocacy.Ms Gitari is a graduate of the Refugee Studies Programme of Oxford University.