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To champion the safety, security and wellbeing of Human Rights Defenders.
VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT : THREE (3) PROGRAMME INTERNSHIP POSITIONS
WE ARE HIRING: THREE (3) PROGRAMME INTERNSHIP POSITIONS
The Defenders Coalition which is the National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders–Kenya (NCHRD-K) is a national organization incorporated in the Republic of Kenya as a Trust. Its mission is to strengthen the capacity of human rights defenders (HRDs) to work effectively and to reduce their vulnerability to the risk of persecution, through protection, capacity building, and advocacy for a favourable legal and policy environment.
Established in 2007, Defenders Coalition is the only national organisation that works primarily for the protection of HRDs. To compliment the work of the three programmes within the organisation, the Defenders Coalition seeks to recruit suitable candidates for the position of Programmes Intern. Reporting to the Programmes Officer assigned, the
Programmes Intern will be responsible for:
1. Actively participating in the implementation of the Defenders Coalition activities under the direction and supervision of the Programme Officers.
2. Conducting research in the various Defenders Coalition ’s programme areas
3. Assisting in logistical planning for meetings and trainings
4. Assisting in communication of the Defenders Coalition to partners via various platforms
5. Representing Defenders Coalition in meetings and partner activities
6. Preparing timely reports as per stated guidelines
7. Monitoring and documenting cases or incidences of violations of human rights defenders‘ rights.
8. Undertake case assessments for clients under the Protection Programme
9. Assisting in administrative functions as will be assigned
10. Participating in fundraising efforts together with programme staff.
11. Any other relevant duty as may be assigned by the supervisor
Qualification
• Hold a Bachelor’s degree in relevant Social Sciences from a recognized University
• Demonstrate commitment to and interest in human rights and human rights defenders issues/work.
• High analytical skills and ability to conduct research
• Demonstrate understanding of national, regional and international framework for the protection of HRDs
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience in designing and executing communication interventions on
governance and human rights issues
• Hands on experience in IT skills including working with website updates and social media
• Ability to draft documents including reports, policy briefs, concept notes
• Excellent communication and organizational skills: verbal, writing and presentation skills;
The Applicant should possess the following attributes:
• Strong attention to detail
• Proactive problem-solving skills
• Self-motivation and ability to work independently, in a team and under pressure
• Commitment to diversity
• Ability to be a team player
Duration of internship:
The engagement shall be for a period of three (3) months with possibility of extension.
Remuneration:
Defenders Coalition will provide a stipend for the duration of the internship.
Application deadline:
The application deadline is 30th November 2022
How to apply:
If you would like to be considered please email your CV including three (3) contacts of referees and a brief
covering letter highlighting your key skills and your availability to info@defenderscoalition.org indicating on
the subject line “APPLICATION FOR INTERNSHIP”
Cover letter should be addressed to:
The Secretariat
National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders of Kenya (NCHRD-K)
P.O. Box 26309 – 00100 GPO, Nairobi.
INTRODUCING THE NOMINEES: HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS AWARDS 2021 #hrdawardke
On 20th June 2022, Defenders Coalition in conjunction with the Working Group on Human Rights Defenders in Kenya sent out a call for nominations for HRD Awards 2022 that was open until 30 August 2022.
The summary of the nominations was as below:
Total Nominations were 648 under the following criteria
1. Nominations were made from all the 47 Counties of Kenya. The highest number of nomination was from Nairobi with 123 and the lowest nominations from Nandi County with 1 nomination.
2. 351 nominations were for the HRD of the year Award, 72 for the Upcoming HRD of the Year Award, 11 nominations for the Munir Mazrui Lifetime Achievement Award and 14 nominations for the Global Solidarity Award.
The Jury of the HRD Awards, using the set criteria and after a thorough background check and verification on the nominees work and profiles, has selected the following individuals for public recognition during a public ceremony on 2 December 2022.
VETTING OF JAPHET KOOME FOR INSPECTOR GENERAL OF THE NATIONAL POLICE SERVICE 8TH NOVEMBER 2022
The Police Reforms Working Group (PRWG–Kenya) welcomes the opportunity to give its input in vetting the Nominated Inspector General of the National Police Service, Japhet Koome. We note that Kenya has made progress in terms of police reforms. However, individual and command responsibility and accountability have been wanting. Other issues that have been pervasive include the politicisation of policing, lack of independence, and unlawful use of force and firearms.
We support and acknowledge the commitments made by President William Ruto on 16 October 2022, promising to end criminality, Extrajudicial Killings (EJEs) and Enforced Disappearances (EDs) in the National Police Service. These serious human rights violations have continued for years despite police reforms.
We appreciate Chapter Six of the Constitution establishing leadership and integrity standards binding all state officers to exercise public trust in a manner consistent with the purposes and objects of the Constitution, including demonstrating respect for the people and bringing honour to the nation and dignity of the office. Moreover, Article 21 of the Constitution dictates that every state officer’s fundamental duty, including police officers and the Inspector General of the NPS, is to respect, protect,
promote and fulfil the rights and fundamental freedoms in the Bill of Rights.
The PRWG–Kenya takes this opportunity to seek clarification and assurances from Japhet Koome regarding his leadership during his time as the Nairobi County Commander, which was marked by serious human rights violations, including police killings of unarmed protestors and children and sexual violence.
We are guided by the findings and recommendations of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) reports and the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) covering the 2017 Anti–IEBC protests, the raid of Nairobi University and policing of the 2017 elections. We are also guided by the Stephanie Moraa Inquest, which are matters of public record.
The IPOA report on the Anti–IEBC protests indicts Koome’s leadership by finding that there was no prior briefing or training of police officers involved in the public order management of the protests that caused the severe injuries in Nairobi. The report also directly indicts Koome for failure to cooperate with them (IPOA) despite his legal obligation to do so to the lawful police oversight body.
During the inquest into the killing of a nine–year–old girl, Stephanie Moraa Gisemba, the Court determined that the Police refused to provide the report of their investigation, failed to cooperate with IPOA and produce operation orders for Mathare North Area 2, covering 12 August 2017. According to the KNCHR’s report on the Police Operation at the University of Nairobi, police officers from the General Service Unit forcefully entered the UON Architecture Design and Development (ADD) Building. They apprehended and tortured students and some staff with batons, slaps, kicks, and gun butts for seven hours. Furthermore, the students were forced to do push–ups, among other forms of unusual and cruel treatment prohibited under Article 25 of the Constitution. Female students were groped, and Luo and Luhya students were targeted for their perceived political inclination
We believe that Japhet Koome should publicly and satisfactorily explain his position as a person with individual and command responsibility and what measures he has taken to reduce the violations documented in the above reports, and what measures he will take to prevent similar atrocities from happening in future as Inspector General should the National Assembly approve his nomination.
Notes:
Reports cited
Link to reports cited: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1wNmnOi22PgDDLi2STyei-Du9RDi3KLIl
This Report, Dusk to Dawn? Our HRDs Story on Kenya’s 2022 Electoral Processes and Outcomes is a summary of the Human Rights Defenders’ (HRDs) monitoring exercise that was carried in one (1) year between August 2021 and August 2022.
Its title is informed by the English saying that it is ‘darkest before dawn’. This saying means that prior day break it is the darkest, and of course that translates to that before something good happens one must go through serious problems. That has been Kenya’s history with elections since 1992. President (Dr. William Ruto) the eventual winner of 2022 presidential elections has been part of the government that has been in power for the past 09 years. He served as the Deputy President under President Kenyatta between 2013-2022.
Under that government Kenyan people suffered a lot socially, economically and also politically. Now the question that bothers Kenyans is whether with Ruto’s presidency, Kenya will change for the better; in other words, will Kenyan people fortunes change so that we get out of the dusk that we have been going through culminating in COVID-19, to a new dawn of hope and optimism? Only time will tell. In the meantime, HRDs have a lot of work to hold the ‘new’ government to account for all the pledges they made during the campaigns.
Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) as used in this report, is a term derived from the UN Declaration of HRDs, of 1998, which identifies HRDs as individuals or groups who act to promote, protect or strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms through peaceful means.13 Thus, States are obligated to recognize the value and important contribution of HRDs to peace, sustainable development and human rights and to respect HRDs on a nondiscriminatory basis, protect them against any arbitrary action as a consequence of the legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the Declaration.
Since the introduction of multiparty in the early 1990s, elections held in Kenya, elections are highly contested and elicit mixed feelings and anxiety. Further, there have been periods where elections are marked by violence especially in 1992 and 1997, with the ‘climax’ being in 2007/08 when Kenya was in the cusp of a precipice. This has invited actions to monitor and respond to these factors. This has seen a huge investment by government, UN Bodies and CSOs to prioritize activities that enhance and promote peace, electoral justice, and respect for human rights.
From August 2021 to August 2022, the Defenders’ Coalition recruited a total number of 212 monitors who are essentially HRDs by training and practice to monitor human rights violations during the said period. In three (3) periods, the Defenders Coalition facilitated these HRDs to undertake monitoring in different batches: first, between August and December 2021, there were 75 monitors;14 second, from December 2021 to January 2022, there were 32 monitors;15 and finally, between June and August 2022, there were 105 monitors. This Report is thus a comprehensive compilation of what transpired in Kenya, from the views and perception of Kenyan HRDs based on Human Rights-Based Approaches (HRBA).
This Report is a consolidation of various reports by Defenders Coalition which includes among others, the Report that is titled Status of Human Rights Defenders at the Blink of 2022 Elections; this covers the period from August 2021 to July 2022. Other reports are situational reports, which are basically summing up what HRDs monitors perceived throughout the that cover various months towards the August Election, particularly the months of June, July, and August 2022 when Defenders Coalition has 105 monitors16 on the ground for those three (3) months.
FINDINGS
Overall, the HRDs monitored, documented, and reported various forms of violations during the project period August 2021-September 2022. These abuses ranged from, threats on the right to life, of not the HRDs but also the general populace including forceful and politically motivated disappearances. Indeed, 259 people were killed by police in differing circumstances and 35 disappeared in police custody. Second, and connected to the above are many cases of police brutality. Police violently dispersed up peaceful protests and assemblies especially by HRDs and in some instances caused death as a result of use of lethal force.
Further, during this monitoring period, the Defenders Coalition monitors also documented 42 cases of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV). Some of these cases related to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM); forced early marriages of under-age girls; spousal domestic violence and rape being on the rise, particularly in Wajir, Siaya, Marsabit, Tana River, Baringo, Tharaka Nithi and West Pokot Counties leading the pack. It should be noted that most of these Counties have constant and overt conflict and hence there is correlation between SGBV cases and conflict.
The Defenders Coalition documented throughout the year, constant persecution of HRDs, where their operating environment is shrinking, and perpetrators act with impunity. HRDs continue facing intimidation, criminalization, harassment, stigmatization, and vilification and their work was negatively profiled by State and non-State actors. More concerning is that the perpetrators engage in smear campaigns, de-registration of HRDs organizations, and threats of staff of organizations including Defenders Coalition that was a victim of these attacks.
Of special or mention is the intolerance and attacks on HRDs working for the rights of sexual minorities and women human rights. During the project period, two (2) were founded murdered in Nairobi and Nyeri counties whilst many others SOGIE HRDs have been physically or sexually attacked or arbitrarily arrested or harassed in their homes by unknown persons, especially for Women HRDs (WHRDs), in the period under review.
Since this Report is about monitoring elections by HRDs, one could argue with all the above, the work of HRDs has been rather complicated insofar as their mandate of fighting for the protection, promotion, and fulfillment of human rights in accordance with the three (3) international, continental and national obligations.
OTHER CONCERNS
Part of the problems as stated above plus the issue of early smear campaigns and use of misinformation and political intolerance, makes HRDs of defending of human rights becomes next to impossible. Indeed, violence and insecurity that has plagued many Counties makes HRDs vulnerable to do their work. So are attacks on media houses and journalists not to mention forced evictions and displacement and re-emergence of criminal gangs in the period under review, such as the notorious ‘Confirm Gang’ in Nakuru County which caused untold suffering to the residents.
Between August 2021 and September 2022, because marked heightened electoral and political tensions, a lot of transgressions were recorded by the monitors who were evenly distributed across the country, particularly in what the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) described as hotspot areas in its report, Report on Conflict Mapping, that was released in June 2022. The Defenders Coalitions deployed HRDs to monitor in the six (6) high risk Counties of Nairobi, Uasin Gishu, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and Kericho.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
At end this Report, the Defenders Coalition makes several conclusions and recommendations internally relevant and to other stakeholders in that order. first, and internally, the Defenders Coalition has invested and revamped the Mtetezi Application (App) during this monitoring period, but it will further re-programme it to ensure it works throughout. Not all monitors in the review period accessed the App and hence there is need to reconfigure the same, as it has when it works, proved to be very vital in safely monitoring, documenting, and reporting on human rights violations across the Republic.
Second, the Defenders Coalition has trained over 300 HRDs on monitoring, documenting, and reporting. However, not all monitors filed comprehensive reports to the Secretariat. Thus, the Defenders Coalition will invest in the HURIDOCS system and see the extent to which these materials could be distributed to the HRDs across the country, so that they may make reference to these international materials to improve their role in monitoring, documenting and reporting.
Third, the Supreme Court made a raft of recommendations about the role of the IEBC and the reforms it much needs. The judgment is available for perusal by HRDs to step up advocacy around the much-needed changes to the IEBC since some Commissioners exiting the institution. Further to the above, the Defenders Coalition strongly recommends a through audit of the structures and systems of the IEBC to rectify some of the gross failures cited in this Report. One of them that stood out is the refusal of HRDs to access polling stations, yet they had their letters of accreditation and IEBC badges!
Fourth, some civil society members were closely engaged with or perceived to be aligned to either of the two political outfits: Azimio la Umoja or Kenya Kwanza. Noting this there is need for a closed-door meeting to interrogate the role of civil society in an election, and their contribution to objective discourse that ensures electoral integrity and respect for human rights. This introspection is very important to plan on the next electoral cycle and what would be our role in the envisaged reforms of IEBC and other stakeholders.
Further, we challenge the media houses and the owners to prioritize journalists’ safety when covering partisan elections and fully enforce the code of conduct for practice of journalism and ethics as per the Media Act (2013). Public and private media houses also need to interrogate the need for fair coverage of candidates, especially the presidential contenders, but also manage hate speeches, fear mongering and despondency etc. during the electoral period.
As for the security agencies, in their various formations, they should ensure that all their officers are taken through the electoral code of conduct since some of them were accused and presented before courts for gross violations of the electoral process. On the other hand, the brutality and arbitrary arrest on unarmed persons during demonstrations, particularly HRDs, must be addressed to ensure proper training and respect for human rights in public order management. Connected to this, these agencies should conclude all the investigations underway where HRDs especially WHRDs have suffered under the hands of rogue officers or unknown persons. We encourage IPOA to continuously investigate and hold these officers to account.
To the development partners, we reiterate recommendations of the July 2022: that they should set aside support for civil society that are involved in conflict early warning systems and response so that they map areas that could explode and coordinate such response. The NCIC Report came in handy to provide civil society with what to look out for during monitoring.
Finally, all stakeholders in the electoral processes and outcomes, whether they are monitors or observers should consider their conduct in times of coordinating their own safety and/or response that is effective and efficient. Through this support the stakeholders will be able to avert potential conflict from conflagrating further.
With the above, and many more in the body of this Report, the Defenders Coalition will continue contributing towards the work of HRDs by making the environment safe and also that their stand of defending human rights does not cause them harm or harm to those they represent as they undertake their mandate.
73rd Ordinary Session of the Africa Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights
The Gambia, Banjul
Public Session
Human Rights Situation in Africa
21st October 2022
Situation of Human Rights Defenders in Kenya
Observer Status: OBS 500
Observer Status: OBS 500
Mr. Chair, distinguished commissioners and state delegates representatives of NHRIs and NGOs.
On behalf of the National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders -Kenya (Defenders Coalition), I would like to thank the Commission for this opportunity to raise some of the key human rights concerns from Kenya. Human rights defenders (HRDs) play a critical role in society in the protection and promotion of human rights which is integral to the success of a nation’s growth.
We are concerned that the legitimate role of protection and promotion of human rights carried on by human rights defenders and Civil Society Organizations is criminalized and target for reprisal by both state and non-state actors. Particularly attacks against women human rights defenders, environmentalists and those working on business and human rights issues have escalated. Accountability for these violations remain unaddressed as mandated oversight institutions are unable, for various reasons, to investigate, prosecute and serve justice to the victims.
Below are a few incidences of violation of human rights fundamental freedoms of human rights defenders in Kenya:
Freedom of the media
The violation of the rights of media professionals including journalists was on the rise during the period with verbal and physical attacks being documented. The media council of Kenya documented 45 incidences of profiling of and threats to individual journalists and media outlets by politicians related to 2022 General Election in Kenya.
Freedom of peaceful assembly
Defenders Coalition has documented over 30 cases of violation of Article 11 of the African Charter of Human and Peoples Rights and international law standards that safeguards the right to peacefully assemble.Majority of the cases documented include threats of arrest, warnings against publicly sharing information on police brutality and corruption, digital attacks, negative profiling, and confiscation of equipment.
On 9th April 2022, four HRDs participating in a peaceful community sensitization on the high cost of living in Kenya under the #NjaaRevolution were violently arrested. The police charged the four with unlawful assembly and resisting arrest for asking the police officers the reason for arrest.
On 21 February 2022, six HRDs were found guilty of “taking part in prohibited gathering and failing to keep
their physical distance” and sentenced to six months’ probation. The HRDs had been arrested on 25 August 2021 while protesting and condemning corruption and misuse of public funds in the procurement of COVID 19 mitigation funds.
On 23 November 2021, five HRDs were arrested while protesting harsh working conditions for employees at a local company. The five were charged with unlawful assembly, creating disturbance and incitement to violence. The matter is ongoing in court.
On 2 August 2022, 6 HRDs were found guilty of unlawful assembly by a Magistrate Court and fined USD 500 or alternative 3 months in jail. The six were arrested in 2016 while mobilizing community members to protest land injustices in their community.
Freedom of Association
Since 2018, squatters from Mithiini Area continue to be criminalized for living on their pieces of landwith perpetual trumped up criminal persecution. The over 30,000 squatters risk homelessness due to forceful and systematic evictions and targeting those at the frontline promoting land, human and peoples’ rights.
In January 2022, the government forcefully evicted 30,000 slum dwellers in Nairobi’s Mukuru Kwa Njenga Slums. Atleast four people were killed as a result of the evictions that was largely violent.
The safety of women human rights defenders and justice system.
There has been raised concern at the forum of ongoing reprisals against human rights defenders including the killing with impunity of Joannah Stutchbury, Elizabeth Ekaru and Sheila Lumumba . The killings remain uninvestigated, and no one held to account. The only known arrest following the killing of Elizabeth Ekaru.
On 3 January 2022, Elizabeth Ekaru an indigenous WHRD was murdered in cold blood by a neighbor due to her involvement in the defending of land rights and natural resources. The push for justice through the judicial process is underway.
On 15 July 2021 an environmentalist WHRD Joannah Stutchbury was murdered in her home following longstanding advocacy for the protection of a local forest. Security agencies have never made public the findings of the investigation neither no one has ever been arrested for prosecution on the murder.
In light of these updates and observations, we urge the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to:
1. Call on the Kenyan government earnestly concludes the investigations to the murder of Joannah Stutchbury, the findings be made public, and the perpetrators persecuted.
2. Call on the Kenyan government to cease arbitrary arrests and suppression of Human Rights Defenders and civil society organizations who work towards ensuring that Kenya promotes and protects human rights as stipulated in the constitution. The judicial process should not be used as a tool for suppressing CSOs and HRDs.
3. Comes up with a resolution to compel the government of Kenya to ensure safety and security of human rights defenders in Kenya through the application of systematical legal provisions that promote and protect human rights and establish mechanisms that protect human rights defenders such as the model human rights defender’s policy.
4. Call on the Kenyan government to ensure strong public statements recognizing the legitimate and important role of HRDs and that all alleged attacks against human rights defenders are promptly and thoroughly investigated and persecution through judicial processes dropped.
5. Call on the Kenyan government to implement the direction on Application no. 006/2012 by the African Court recognizing the rights of the Ogiek Indigenous People of Mau Forest in Kenya. Failure to implement the judgement continues to subject the community to unnecessary suffering.
Dear Friends, Supporters, Comrades, Colleagues and Partners,
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS’ ANNUAL ACADEMY 2022
DEADLINE: 10 October 2022
A. BACKGROUND
The National Coalition for Human Rights Defenders in Kenya is now accepting applications for the Annual Human Rights Defenders’ Academy. Deadline: 10 October2022.
Defenders Coalition which is the National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders works primarily for the protection of Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) in Kenya and was formed in 2007 to enhance the safety and security of HRDs’ and their operating environment. Defenders Coalition plays a critical role of watching over HRDs who are at risk because of their human rights work.
The organization shields the HRDs from risks in the following ways:
1) Supportive Policy, Legal and Institutional Frameworks: Defenders Coalition has positioned itself as a collaborative leader towards (re)formulation and enforcement of appropriate policies, laws, institutions, and cultural norms that touch on the safety, security and wellbeing of HRDs. Defenders Coalition seeks to contribute to securing a conducive operating environment for HRDs, and in which respect for human rights is accorded to all.
2) HRD Protection and Safety: Facilitating timely and appropriate responses to all forms of threats or insecurities to HRDs through strengthening the capacities of HRDs and other service providers, more so, duty bearers, lawyers, medical personnel, and counsellors among others. Defenders Coalition intervenes in a timely way whenever HRDs are at risk and deliberately establishes strategic partnerships with complementary referral systems to ensure a systems approach to HRD support.
3) Socio-Economic Wellbeing of HRDs: Defenders Coalition aims to facilitate HRDs to build their socio-economic resilience and attain improved quality of life. Such support seeks to ensure that HRDs are self-sufficient, easily access the necessities of life and live in dignity. Defenders Coalition strengthens the capacities of HRDs to engage in productive activities to increase their self-reliance and income security.
4) Institutional Excellence: Internally, Defenders Coalition seeks to consolidate its position as a dynamic, effective, and sustainable organization. The focus is to further strengthen/ diversify our resource base, human resource, and leadership capabilities, as well as our internal systems, policies, and structures.
For seven years, the Defenders Coalition has organized the convening for human rights defenders, journalists and activists to reflect on the environment and concerns that have been there through the year as well plan for the coming year. Participants are also exposed to skills enhancement, networking and public awareness sessions. The HRD Annual Academy runs for five (5) days with participants being trained on:
1. Physical and Digital security management.
2. Safe and effective monitoring, documentation, and reporting of human rights violations.
3. Psychosocial debriefing.
Participants must be willing to learn in a fast-paced programme and should have the capacity and commitment to maximize their benefit from the programme.
B. DATE
The Academy will be held between 28th November 2022 – 2nd December 2022 in Nairobi, Kenya. The Call for application is open to HRDs from all the 47 counties of Kenya working on all thematic human rights themes including:
a) Women and girls’ rights
b) Democracy and governance
c) Pease and Security
d) Civil and political rights
e) Social and economic justice
f) Environmental and natural resource management justice
g) Rights of minority groups
h) Any other human rights issues
C. SELECTION CRITERIA
Relevance: The course is primarily targeting human rights defenders who are actively involved in the work of promoting human rights and can apply the knowledge gained from the course in their daily community organizing.
Added value: Defenders Coalition will prioritize applicants who have not undergone similar extensive training before Geographical location: Our aim is to select a diverse group who can provide an array of perspectives and share experiences. Applying individuals must be based in Kenya from the 47 counties and should mainly be carrying out human rights work.
Gender balance: It is important for us to strike a fair gender balance.
Language: A good level of English and Kiswahili is required to follow the training.
D. BENEFITS
1. Participants will be able to take part in the workshop over a period of five days, with Defenders Coalition, to ensure that learning is tailored to the needs of the group.
2. The participants will define and work on their own project throughout the course of participating in the workshop and receive support and mentorship in realizing their project vision.
3. Participants will also become a member of our alumni network after they have gone through the whole cycle, including access to mentors, creatives, safe sister signal group, a mailing list, e-learning opportunities, and priority in subsequent events.
4. Daily Accommodation for the entire period
5. Access to full day conference facilities for the training period
6. A transport reimbursement at the Defenders’ Coalition rates.
7. A certificate of participation.
8. Will get the opportunity to attend the Annual Human Rights Defenders Awards feting Ceremony on 2 December 2022.
E. APPLICATION
Selection into the Workshops is highly competitive. We encourage you to apply early and put your best foot forward.
Phase 1: Fill out this application form by 10th October 2022.
Phase 2: Selection
Shortlisted applicants will be contacted.
Phase 3: Preparation for the Workshop.
If you are selected to attend the academy, you must demonstrate availability for the period as well as ability to learn.
Phase 4: Academy Convening
The workshop will take place from the 28th November – 2nd December 2022 unless otherwise communicated.
For any inquiries, please contact academy2022@defenderscoalition.org
Applicants should fill in this application form
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The excitement in the mouths and eyes of every Kenyan is enough indication that Kenya are looking forward to the establishment of a new government -of hope, inclusion, protects and promotes human rights and rule of law. Despite the tribulations facing Kenyans ranging from the high cost of living, reduced quality of life, unemployment, stinking corruption levels, insecurity, attacks on the civic space and unwillingness of the state to adopt and implement progressive constitutional provisions and legislations such as the two third gender rule and the human rights defenders’ policy, there is a glimmersof hope in the faces of many: that after taking part in choosing their next government on August 9 and they eventual outcome of the ongoing petitions at the Supreme Court of Kenya, they have an opportunity to actively hold the incoming government accountable.
We are optimistic that the general elections will be conducted in a transparent manner, will be free, fair and verifiable to inspire our future generations on the fidelity of the current generations to our commitments to promoting the enjoyment of democratic rights and the rule of law.
Defenders Coalition welcomes the High Court judgment by Lady Justice Jessie Lessit on Mavoko 3, where human rights defender Willie Kimani was brutally murdered by police officers. The conviction of the three police officers and one informer as the murderers of the #Mavoko3 is the slightest success in the corridors of justice regarding human rights defenders in the justice system in Kenya. We hope that the same wheels of justice will turn for the other victims of police brutality including the#Kianjokoma Brothers, Baby Pendo, Vaite, Yassin Moyo and many more.
I welcome you to enjoy this read, where we tell the steps made in securing the safety and security of all cadres of Human Rights Defenders, Election monitor and observers, civil society organizations and grassroot organizations. You will have a feel of the skills impacted on HRDs, the advocacy work conducted and how the Defenders Coalition aspires to widen the network of champions of human rights and social justice in Kenya.
I urge you to continue supporting our work by sharing our work, partner with us or donate directly. More details on how to partner can be found on our website at www.defenderscoalition.org or talk to me on email: dk@defenderscoalition.org.
Kamau Ngugi
Executive Director – Defenders Coalition
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