What we can learn from the Somali refugee crisis

In recent months, news images and reports have been fixated on asylum seekers fleeing Syria and other war-torn countries to find refuge in Europe. But while this latest crisis might appear unique in its scale and urgency, the world has faced other waves of displacement that could help inform the international response to the refugee situation unfolding today.

Dubbed “one of the most complex crises in recent history,” Somalia has been in a state of turmoil ever since strongman Mohamed Siad Barre fled the country in 1991. Almost 25 years later, more than 1 million Somali people remain stranded in the Horn of Africa — the third largest refugee population after Afghans and Syrians according to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. With 330,000 Somali refugees, the majority of whom cannot return home, the remote subregion of Dadaab in northeastern Kenya has become the world’s largest and oldest refugee complex.

So what can we learn from the case of Somali refugees and their protracted exile in Kenya? Underlining the importance of embedding refugee populations in economies and societies, three observations stand out as particularly instructive.