Submitted on 18 July 2019 by:

National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders-Kenya and Defend Defenders (East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project) 

Introduction

The National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders-Kenya (NCHRD-K), is a Kenyan CSO established in 2007. It works to strengthen the capacity of HRDs to work effectively and reduce their vulnerability to the risk of persecution, including by advocating for a favourable legal and policy environment in Kenya.

DefendDefenders (The East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project) is a regional civil society organisation (CSO) established in 2005 and based in Kampala, Uganda. It seeks to strengthen the work of human rights defenders (HRDs) throughout the East and Horn of Africa sub-region by reducing their vulnerability to the risk of persecution and by enhancing their capacity to effectively defend human rights.

In this submission, DefendDefenders and NCHRD-K examine the Government of Kenya’s compliance with its international human rights obligations to create and maintain a safe and enabling environment for HRDs, including civil society. Specifically, we analyse the Government of Kenya’s fulfilment of the rights to freedom of association, peaceful assembly, and expression, and unwarranted restrictions on HRDs since the second cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in 2015. To this end, we assess Kenya’s implementation of recommendations received during the second UPR cycle relating to these issues and provide a number of specific, action-orientated follow-up recommendations.

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