1.1A Senate resolution
1.2concerning the detention and torture of the Somali people in Kenya.
1.3WHEREAS, on April 2, 2014, the Kenyan police, as part of a security operation to root out
1.4terrorists, started arresting people without identity documents in the Somali-dominated Nairobi
1.5suburb of Eastleigh, and in one week arrested nearly 4,000 Somalis or Kenyans of Somali origin
1.6across the country; and
1.7WHEREAS, those arrested were detained at the Kasarani sports stadium under
1.8concentration camp-type conditions as well as at various police stations in Nairobi to be
1.9interrogated, and for their legal status to be checked; and
1.10WHEREAS, those arrested included women, some of whom were pregnant and had
1.11miscarriages or gave birth at detention centers, children, and elders; and
1.12WHEREAS, in the Pangani police station, Human Rights Watch witnessed police whipping,
1.13beating, and verbally abusing detainees who were packed by the hundreds into cells that were
1.14designed to accommodate 20 people and were filthy with urine and excrement; and
1.15WHEREAS, some of the people arrested have been released by the police after producing
1.16identification documents, but only after days in deplorable conditions and paying bribes or
1.17exchanging sex for release; and
1.18WHEREAS, 17 organizations, including Amnesty International, the state-funded Kenya
1.19National Commission on Human Rights, Transparency International Kenya, and the Kenyan
1.20branch of the International Commission of Jurists, said the security operation "constitutes
1.21discrimination contrary to the provisions" of the country's constitution; and
2.1WHEREAS, Kenya has deported hundreds of the Somali detainees to Somalia without
2.2providing an opportunity to file an application for asylum, although international law prohibits the
2.3forcible return to persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular
2.4social group, or political opinion, or to a situation where a person would be at real risk of torture
2.5or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment; and
2.6WHEREAS, the United States Ambassador to Kenya, Robert Godec, has emphasized the
2.7need for the police to uphold human rights in the ongoing terror crackdown; NOW, THEREFORE,
2.8BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the State of Minnesota that it encourages the President
2.9and the Congress of the United States to take every possible action to safeguard the security of the
2.10innocent noncombatant Somali men, women, and children in Kenya.
2.11 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of the Senate is directed to prepare a
2.12copy of this resolution, to be authenticated by her signature and that of the Chair of the Senate
2.13Rules and Administration Committee, and transmit it to the President of the United States, the
2.14President and the Secretary of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the United
2.15States House of Representatives, and Minnesota's Senators and Representatives in Congress.