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To champion the safety, security and wellbeing of Human Rights Defenders.
ENHANCING SAFETY AND SECURITY OF SOGIE HRDs THROUGH MAPPING OF SECURITY CONCERNS FOR ITGNC
Intolerance towards LGBTI individuals and organisations is exacerbated by laws which make same sex activity illegal. This creates an unsafe environment for LGBTI individuals to live openly in regard to their sexual identity and orientation, and hinders their access to health, safety and other public services. Despite Kenya being one of the more progressive countries in East Africa regarding LGBQ awareness and rights, the nation still prohibits LGBQ persons. From 2010 to 2014, Kenya prosecuted 595 people for their sexuality, and LGBTI organization, based in Nairobi, have been working to reverse strict laws prohibiting gay relationships.
[1] More so, Intersex Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming (ITGNC) HRDs together with their constituents face a number of challenges and issues in their work. Their work is never safe even where they have to set up an office due to fear of victimization by either the landlord or the community around. Security is not guaranteed when they are training their members especially now that they have to do it in their offices. The sensation about it all turns to be a security threat to them. They have to be mindful of socialization issues and places.
With this in mind, Defenders Coalition felt the need to conduct an extensive security needs mapping on ITGNC HRDs while sensitizing them as well on the Safety and Protection guide in order to enable them have a wider reach into the community.
It is for these and other reasons that the Coalition convened one-day dialogues with ITGNC HRDs in Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and Nairobi to better understand the security concerns they face in the course of their human rights work and strategies in place to mitigate against those concerns for the purposes of developing a security guide and training manual for the ITGNC community.
OBJECTIVE
To carry out a needs assessment security mapping amongst ITGNC HRDs from Nairobi, Nyanza, Rift Valley, Western and Coast regions in order to better understand the security concerns they face in the course of their human rights work and strategies in place to mitigate against those concerns.
OUTCOMES
Identification of safety and protection measures amongst ITGNC HRDs working on SOGIE issues.
Developed sustainable safety and protection measures informed by ITGNC HRDS security needs to ensure the safe conduct of their human rights work.
In a democracy, the authority of the government derives solely from the consent of the governed and is realised by holding free and fair elections. But from 1969, Kenya was a de facto one-party state and in June 1982, the National Assembly of Kenya passed Article 2A of the Constitution of Kenya, officially declaring Kenya a de jure one-party state. This saw the consolidation of power within the ruling party, and opposition leaders and citizens at large were unable to speak freely, assemble, or move around the country to offer alternative voices, speak their criticisms of the government openly and bring alternative policies and candidates to voters. State-sponsored repression that included arbitrary arrests, detention without trial, prolonged trials arising from trumped-up charges, torture and other human rights violations were meted out on citizens, the academic community, journalists and politicians who expressed dissenting opinions or were perceived to be doing so by state agents.
Between 1982 and 1992, political leaders and human rights defenders (HRDs) in Kenya came together, amid serious repression, to champion multi-partyism, demanding democratic elections that would meet the threshold of being competitive, periodic, inclusive and definitive, and would thus give power back to citizens who would enjoy broad freedom to criticise the government, publish their criticisms and present alternative views. These efforts were met with resistance and those at the forefront experienced arbitrary arrest, incommunicado detention, enforced disappearance, threats and harassment.
The efforts of the reformers, as they were popularly known, won the support of foreign missions, primarily from western states, and bilateral and multilateral donors, which demanded that the Kenyan government should embrace democracy with all its tenets of good governance, accountability and transparency as well as respect for human rights as a condition for aid. Faced with protests, boycotts and international pressure, the government caved in, albeit reluctantly, to the demands for political pluralism, which was restored in 1992 with the repeal of Article 2A.
It should be recalled that the repeal of Article 2A to allow for multiparty politics was not complemented by other legal and institutional reforms to enable a thriving democracy. This was compounded by state efforts to scuttle the conduct of free and fair elections by persistent state-orchestrated inter-ethnic hatred that translated into political and ethnic clashes that took place in 1992 and in every election period since the introduction of multiparty democracy in Kenya.
The climax of simmering ethnic tensions was the eruption of violence following the 2007 general elections that plunged Kenya into political, economic and humanitarian crisis. The conflict saw serious human rights violations committed in a context where over 600,000 Kenyans were internally displaced and close to 2,000 people were killed. The stalemate between rival presidential candidates Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki was resolved in February 2008 following the negotiation and signing of the National Peace Accord and the subsequent enactment of the National Peace Accord and Reconciliation Act. Among the agenda items this laid out was the need for a new constitution, which was drafted and promulgated after a referendum in 2010.
Civil society organisations (CSOs) and HRDs in Kenya once again played a critical role in the documentation of human rights violations, championing justice for the victims and accountability for perpetrators. The documentation of human rights violations by HRDs was particularly critical in laying the foundation for the investigation of the 2007 election violations by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and subsequent prosecution of six individuals believed to have been most responsible. The role of CSOs and HRDs in documenting violations has ever since put them in the crosshairs of the political elite, who have targeted individual HRDs with threats, harassment and intimidation, and have aimed negative rhetoric at CSOs with the aim of denting their credibility in society. There is also an attack on the media and journalists, despite the constitutional protection of media freedom and media independence.
The Faculty of Advocates is pleased to announce the launch of the Scottish Bar International Human Rights Award.
The award seeks to recognise the achievements of human rights defenders who work in challenging situations around the world.It is open to human rights lawyers and defenders who are not residents of the UK or Ireland.
The winner of the award will be invited to Scotland to share the experience of their work. The Faculty of Advocates will offer training to help build capacity. We will arrange meetings and contacts with human rights organisations and others to offer solidarity and build support for the future.
More information on the award, the criteria and the application process is available here:
https://www.humanrights.scot/awards/scottish-bar-international-human-rights-award-2018/
According to the United Nations, “There is no strict definition of human rights defenders because they can be anyone who acts at any moment for any human rights. A human rights defender can be a man, a woman, a lawyer, a student, an NGO’s employee, a doctor or any person from any profession, of all ages, nationalities, religions, etc. A person can also be considered as a human rights defender whether she promotes and protects human rights her whole life, occasionally, or only once”. Amnesty International explains that human rights defenders can be “teachers, students, political opponents, factory workers, journalists, lawyers, or so many others”. If you defend human rights through peaceful means, you are a human rights defender!
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Lutfa Ali is a human right defender who specializes in advocating for children’s right and is a Volunteer Children Officer working under department of Machakos County children office. She started advocating for human rights when she was in a youth group they had formed in Machakos constituency. Its main areas of focus were advocating for youth inclusivity, environment protection, and promotion of education and lobbying on behalf of the community.
In early 2017, she established Akili Kids Organization, a the thematic area of focus is lobbying and advocating on behalf of the community on child rights and protection. Their success and inspiration comes from the number of chil- dren whose rights they are able to safeguard and empower through the use of performing arts to inform, educate and communicate on children’s rights and where to seek redress for violations.
In the course of her human rights work and establishment of an organization, she was faced with many challenges including, capacity gaps, financial constraints and lack of community confidence in the organization due to its infancy. However, she has managed to overcome these challenges by working in close partnership with the County Children’s Office.
Her passion and resolve for working with the community and children makes her unstoppable. She is motivated by the fear of being average.
Joan’s journey as a human rights defender began in 2012 at the age of 20 while she was a first year student in medical school. A friend approached her with the idea to establish an organisation, which they did. The organisation known as Fly Sister Fly Foundation champions the realisation of the right to education for girls in Samburu by addressing the basic barriers they face.
She and her colleagues identified their key challenges and developed creative ways to address the same. A notable achievement is the incorporation of adaptable technology through the use of Solar powered radio Project to counter the communication barrier and nomadic lifestyle of the Samburu Community. The initiative aims at distributing solar powered radio sets to the families in Samburu. The radio has a memory card slot where they insert a memory card with recordings of key issues such as importance of education. It also has a torch which the children use to study at night, acts like a power bank and has a charging system for phones. In 2016, they distributed 90 radios, impacting over 400 families since they use them
communally.
Joan has faced numerous challenges, which she views as an opportunity for growth and creative thinking to come up with solutions. One of her major challenges is lack of sufficient finances to sustain the work of the organisation which she tries to mitigate through innovative ways as crowd-funding and selling merchandise.
Dr. Wala is a mother and a medical doctor with a passion to defend justice. Her most recent fight for human rights was inspired by the operating environment for doctors in Kenya and the subsequent doctors’ strike in 2016. During this period, she actively campaigned for better working environment for doctors and the release of the union leaders who had been arrested. During the 2017 Elections, she started an online conversation dubbed: #NotOnMyWatch which provided a safe platform for people to share ongoing violations. She also formed a small group of 5 female doctors who partnered with KNCHR to document cases of Human Rights Violations in the Nairobi and Kisumu slums.
This platform later on went on train medical doctors on forensic documentation and is currently securing funding to take the doctors through psychological counselling on vicarious trauma. Some of the challenges she has undergone is the looming discomfort that her human rights work poses to her family who fear for her physical wellbeing.
Being in full time employment also means that she has to delicately balance her public image on human rights so as not to be seen to be representing the views of her employer. In addition, lack of resources forces her to use her personal resources to carry out her initiatives. Despite the challenges, she actively and successfully countered negative narrative against doctor’s strike and led a gallant campaign championing for the release of the Doctors Union leaders who had been arrested. The work she did during the electioneering period contributed greatly to the KNCHR elections report. Through this she has established critical linkages with forensic officers in most hospitals who document cases of human rights violations.
Kennedy, also known as JJ, is a member of Mathare Social Justice Centre (MSJC) where he works as the field coordinator and community mobilizer. Inspired by an oppressive past that saw him arrested at the age of 17 and sentenced to death for robbery with violence, a decision that was overturned eight year later on appeal. JJ started his human rights work in 2004, at Kiamaiko, in Nairobi County, addressing cases of Gender Based Violence and early marriages.
His area of focus is children’s rights and is a voluntary children officer at Starehe Constituency. JJ works to save destitute kids by getting them involved in art, drama and poetry to help them rise the different levels of life. After joining MSJC in 2016, Extra Judicial Execution cases were on the rise and he embarked on doing documentation of the same as well as Human rights abuses in Mathare and its environs.
His most outstanding achievement is managing to overcome his tainted past and use his experience to engage with the youth in his areas of operation to ensure that they live a life free of crime and instead involve themselves in income generating activities. He also initiated a program, mazungumzo mtaani (Community Conversations), which are dialogue sessions where the public is sensitized on the role of HRDs to gain community support for HRDs. He is also involved in Rapid disaster response team in Mathare.
He has been faced with numerous challenges including being arrested five times for his advocacy work. However, he has never been charged. He has also received threats from families of girls he has rescued who use the police the police to intimidate him. To overcome these challenges, he works closely with relevant state and non state partners to assist him in responding to cases.
“Killing young Kenyans is not the best way to control crime, involve them in income generating activities and crime rate will reduce,” Kennedy Chindi