Date of publication:
08/21/2025
Kenya
Do domestic laws and policies provide for family reunification for forcibly displaced and stateless persons?
Assessment by population
Analysis
Kenya’s domestic legal framework acknowledges the importance of family unity and incorporates provisions that facilitate family reunification, particularly for refugees and their families. The Refugees Act, 2021, and the accompanying Refugees (General) Regulations, 2024, provide a structured legal basis for ensuring that refugees can reunite with their family members. These laws align with international principles, including the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1969 OAU Refugee Convention, which emphasize the protection of family unity as a fundamental right for refugees. The Refugees Act, 2021, explicitly recognizes derivative refugee status, allowing the dependents of recognized refugees—including spouses, children, and other dependents—to receive the same protection without the need for separate asylum claims. This ensures that families are not fragmented due to displacement. Additionally, the Regulations of 2024 provide procedural guidelines for family reunification applications, outlining documentation requirements, processing timelines, and eligibility criteria for family members seeking to join refugees already in Kenya.
Related provisions of domestic law or policy
The Refugee Act
- Year: 2021
- Type: Domestic law
- Rights Category: Asylum, Education, Freedom of movement, Health, Liberty & security of person, Social protection, Work & Workplace rights, Family life, Documentation
- Link to external source: https://www.refworld.org/legal/legislation/natlegbod/2021/en/124231?prevDestination=search&prevPath=/search?keywords=refugee+act&order=desc&sm_country_name%5B%5D=Kenya&sort=score&result=result-124231-en
Legal provision
Section 20.3 - Duty to ensure family unity
(3) The Commissioner shall, as far as possible, assist a child referred to in subsection (2) to trace the parents or other members of the family in order to obtain information necessary for the reunification of the child with his or her family.
Section 2 - Definition of “members of the family of a refugee”
"members of family of a refugee", in relation to a refugee means — (a) any spouse of the refugee; (b) any child of the refugee, including an adopted child under the age of eighteen; (c) a person who is related to the refugee by blood or marriage and who is dependent upon the refugee; (d) any other dependent living in the same household as the refugee and who is dependent on the refugee.
The Refugees (General) Regulations, 2024
- Year: 2024
- Type: Domestic policy
- Rights Category: Asylum, Education, Freedom of movement, Health, Housing, land & property, Liberty & security of person, Nationality & facilitated naturalization, Social protection, Work & Workplace rights, Documentation
- Link to external source: https://www.refworld.org/legal/decreees/natlegbod/2024/en/147929?prevDestination=search&prevPath=/search?keywords=Refugees+%28General%29+Regulations&order=desc&sm_country_name%5B%5D=Kenya&sort=score&result=result-147929-en
Legal provision
Regulation 10.1 - Refugee status determination
During a refugee status determination interview— (a) an asylum seeker shall present his or her refugee claim in person; and (b) may be represented by a legal representative at his or her own cost; and (c) an asylum seeker who is incapable of giving consent or representing himself or herself at the interview shall be represented by competent adult who may give information on the asylum seeker’s behalf.
The Constitution of Kenya
- Year: 2010
- Type: Domestic law
- Rights Category: Asylum, Education, Freedom of movement, Health, Housing, land & property, Liberty & security of person, Social protection, Work & Workplace rights, Family life, Documentation
- Link to external source: https://www.refworld.org/legal/legislation/natlegbod/2010/en/75699
Legal provision
Article 45 - Family
(1) The family is the natural and fundamental unit of society and the necessary basis of social order, and shall enjoy the recognition and protection of the State; (2) Every adult has the right to marry a person of the opposite sex, based on the free consent of the parties; (3) Parties to a marriage are entitled to equal rights at the time of the marriage, during the marriage and at the dissolution of the marriage;(4) Parliament shall enact legislation that recognises— (a) marriages concluded under any tradition, or system of religious, personal or family law; and (b) any system of personal and family law under any tradition, or adhered to by persons professing a particular religion, to the extent that any such marriages or systems of law are consistent with this Constitution.