UN Human Rights Committee considers Kenya's report after 25 years

UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE CONSIDERS KENYA'S REPORT AFTER 25 YEARS

United Nations Headquarters, New York and Nairobi, 21 March 2005 Kenya's Attorney General Amos Wako led the official delegation that presented Kenya's second periodic report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee on the status of human rights in Kenya under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The first issue the Committee raised was grand endemic corruption. The Committee was concerned that corruption affects the whole of society and compromises the ability to enjoy all other rights. The Committee wanted to find out whether the government was worried about donors pulling out. The Committee further wanted to be enlightened on what the government was doing to fight corruption. The attorney general's response to this was that corruption in Kenya was more a question of perception. He explained that the government had put in the necessary measures to fight corruption. The efforts to fight corruption were noted by the committee in the chairperson's summary of the dialogue. The chairpersons summary also broached on the non-integration of the Covenant in domestic legislation. The Committee was concerned that the provisions of the ICCPR are not applied by Kenyan courts. An issue of grave concern to the Committee was the status of women and children. There is continued marginalisation of women backed by the constitution itself which allows cultural practices that violate the rights of women in matters of personal law. Harmful cultural practices, sexual violence, domestic violence, reproductive rights, representation of women, female genital mutilation and wife inheritance issues were raised by the Committee which proceeded to assert that religious and cultural considerations used as explanations by the attorney general cannot be used in mitigation. The provisions of the ICCPR state obligations and it is incumbent upon Kenya to change cultural tendencies. Issues raised relating to children include: child labour as evidenced by the statistics and numbers presented by the attorney general; child trafficking in light of transnational implications; early forced marriages and criminal responsibility. According to the Committee eight years as provided by the penal code is contrary to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Committee was also keenly interested in justice system reforms. The issues of independence of the judiciary and judicial reforms, independence of the national commission on human rights, alternative dispute resolution, formation of a truth justice and reconciliation commission and provision of legal aid were raised. The permanent secretary in the ministry of justice and constitutional affairs explained to the Committee the establishment of the sector wide approach to reforms under the Governance Justice and Legal Sector Reform Programme. The Committee also took issue with poor detention conditions and the large number of deaths occurring in custody together with extrajudicial killings and the lack of statistics as to how many officers have been convicted for any such deaths. On the issue of P3 forms issuable only by the police the attorney general promised that more will be done to ensure that the said forms are available on demand. Various issues were raised in relation to the death penalty, such as the de facto moratorium which translates into inhuman, cruel and degrading punishment of death row convicts. For offences to be awarded the death penalty they must be serious enough and the Committee does not think that both robbery with violence and attempted robbery with violence meet this standard. Further procedural safeguards given to those charged with murder should be extended to all offences that award the death penalty. Land reforms were addressed to the extent that land clashes keep on occurring in Kenya. The Committee raised the issue of forced evictions and whether established principles were adhered to. It is noteworthy that the attorney general quoted extensively the provisions of the draft constitution to show that indeed the situation of human rights in Kenya will greatly improve once the draft becomes law. He averred that the draft constitution has a progressive bill of rights which is not a contentious issue. He further stated that even if the draft constitution did not become law the government would look into how to incorporate the bill of rights in the current constitution. However, on the question of how soon this would happen, he replied to the Committee that he would not answer that question as debate on it would last ad infinitum and it was best that the Committee lets the matter rest. The coalition of NGOs remains to await the official concluding observations and recommendations of the committee on Kenya's situation. Millie Odhiambo CRADLE Caroline Karimi Lintari COVAW Joyce Majiwa FIDA KENYA Priscilla Nyokabi ICJ-KENYA Tim Ekesa KAACR Patrick Mutzenberg World Organisation Against Torture Odindo Opiata Center for Housing Rights Ekitela Lokaale Kenya Human Rights Commission Philip Sironka MPIDO