Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai highlights refugee crisis

Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai spent her 19th birthday visiting the world’s largest refugee camp in Kenya to draw attention to the global refugee crisis, especially as Dadaab camp faces pressure to close after 25 years.

Since last year, Malala has been in contact via Skype with a group of girls in Dadaab and was looking forward to seeing them, said Taylor Royle, her spokesman.

“I am here to speak for my unheard sisters of Somalia striving for education every day,” Malala said yesterday, explaining that on each birthday she chooses a region where girls’ education is neglected and needs attention.

Kenya’s government says Dadaab camp, which hosts more than 300,000 mostly Somali refugees, will be closed in the next year because it has become a security liability.

The camp is in eastern Kenya, near its border with Somalia.

The possibility that the camp will be closed brings yet more uncertainty to the refugees, who face the prospect of returning to a Somalia still plagued with conflict.

Kenya says any returns will be voluntary, even as the international community has urged caution and warned against forceful evictions.