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HF 3368

as introduced - 88th Legislature (2013 - 2014) Posted on 05/13/2014 11:30am

KEY: stricken = removed, old language.
underscored = added, new language.

Current Version - as introduced

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A resolution
memorializing the President and Congress concerning the detention and torture of the
Somali people in Kenya.

WHEREAS, on April 2, 2014, the Kenyan police, as part of a security operation to root out
terrorists, started arresting people without identity documents in the Somali-dominated Nairobi
suburb of Eastleigh, and in one week arrested nearly 4,000 Somalis or Kenyans of Somali origin
across the country; and

WHEREAS, those arrested were detained at the Kasarani sports stadium under
concentration camp-type conditions as well as at various police stations in Nairobi to be
interrogated, and for their legal status to be checked; and

WHEREAS, those arrested included women, some of whom were pregnant and had
miscarriages or gave birth at detention centers, children, and elders; and

WHEREAS, in the Pangani police station, Human Rights Watch witnessed police whipping,
beating, and verbally abusing detainees who were packed by the hundreds into cells that were
designed to accommodate 20 people and were filthy with urine and excrement; and

WHEREAS, some of the people arrested have been released by the police after producing
identification documents, but only after days in deplorable conditions and paying bribes or
exchanging sex for release; and

WHEREAS, 17 organizations, including Amnesty International, the state-funded Kenya
National Commission on Human Rights, Transparency International Kenya, and the Kenyan
branch of the International Commission of Jurists, said the security operation "constitutes
discrimination contrary to the provisions" of the country's constitution; and

WHEREAS, Kenya has deported 82 of the Somali detainees to Somalia without providing
an opportunity to file an application for asylum, although international law prohibits the forcible
return to persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social
group, or political opinion, or to a situation where a person would be at real risk of torture or
cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment; and

WHEREAS, the United States Ambassador to Kenya, Robert Godec, has emphasized the
need for the police to uphold human rights in the ongoing terror crackdown; NOW, THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota that it urges the President
and the Congress of the United States to take every possible action to safeguard the security of the
innocent noncombatant Somali men, women, and children in Kenya.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the State of Minnesota is
directed to prepare copies of this memorial and transmit them to the President of the United States,
the President and the Secretary of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the United
States House of Representatives, and Minnesota's Senators and Representatives in Congress.