KENYA COALITION ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS (KCCPR) Alternative Report to the UN Human Rights Committee in Consideration of Kenya’s Third Periodic Report (for further information or clarification, kindly contact Andrew Songa, Kenya Human Rights Commission, Opposite Valley Arcade, Gitanga Road, P.O. Box 41079-00100 GPO, Nairobi, Kenya. Tel +254-20-2044545/20-2106709/20-2106763, Fax +254-20-3874997 E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] ) Date of Submission: June 15, 2012 1 | P a g e Table of Contents A. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................. 3 B. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 10 1. Organisation Profiles..................................................................................................................... 10 2. Methodology ................................................................................................................................ 12 3. Contextual Background ................................................................................................................. 12 C. ISSUES UNDER CONSIDERATION ............................................................................................. 17 1. Rights of Minorities and Marginalized Communities ................................................................... 17 1.1 Failure to protect the land rights of marginalized communities (Articles 1 and 27) ............. 17 1.2 Citizenship based discrimination (Article 27) ......................................................................... 19 1.3 Failure to protect and promote the cultures of indigenous communities (Article 27) .......... 21 2. Protection of Refugees and Asylum Seekers ................................................................................ 22 2.1 The right to asylum (Article 13) .............................................................................................. 22 2.2 The absence of freedom of movement for refugees (Article 12) ........................................... 24 2.3 Specific protection needs of refugee women and children (Articles 23 and 24) ................... 25 3. Non-Discrimination and Equality before the Law ......................................................................... 26 3.1 The lack of a comprehensive anti-discrimination law (Article 2.2) ....................................... 26 3.2 Protection of vulnerable groups (Article 2.1) ......................................................................... 26 3.3 Equality before the law (Article 26) ........................................................................................ 28 3.4 The lack of adequate support for transitional justice (Article 2.3)......................................... 29 3.5 Extraordinary renditions & lack of a legal framework on counter-terrorism (Art. 4, 26) ...... 31 4. Slavery, Servitude and Forced Labour in Practice......................................................................... 31 4.1 Discriminatory labour practices (Article 8) ............................................................................. 31 4.2 Lack of a comprehensive legal framework and enforcement of laws to protect employees (Article 8) ...................................................................................................................................................... 32 4.3 Poor working conditions for domestic labourers (Article 8) .................................................. 32 4.4 Failure to adequately address instances of trafficking (Article 8) .......................................... 33 5. Right to Privacy ............................................................................................................................. 33 5.1 Lack of sufficient safeguards within various laws (Article 17.2) ............................................ 33 6. Freedom of Opinion and Expression; Assembly; and Association (Articles 19, 21 and 22) .......... 34 6.1 Restrictive regulation of the media (Article 19) ..................................................................... 34 6.2 Legislative limits on freedom of expression (Article 19) ........................................................ 36 6.3 Incidents of threats, attacks, acts of harassment and intimidation against journalists and human rights defenders (Article 19) ......................................................................................................... 37 6.4 Lack of comprehensive protection of freedom of information (Article 19) ........................... 39 6.5 Disruption of public demonstrations and political gatherings (Article 21) ............................ 40 6.6 Threats to the leadership and members of trade unions (Article 22) .................................... 40 7. Protection against Propaganda, Discrimination and National, Religious or Racial Hatred .......... 41 7.1 Lack of adequate support for the National Cohesion and Integration Commission .............. 41 7.2 Failure to adequately enforce the Political Parties Act .......................................................... 42 8. Electoral Rights ............................................................................................................................. 43 8.1 Uncertainty of the election date and lack of adequate pre-election planning ...................... 43 8.2 Security threats, voter intimidation and ethnic Balkanization ............................................... 44 8.3 Lack of a legal framework for the 2/3 gender principle ......................................................... 44 D. CONCLUSION AND WAY FORWARD ........................................................................................ 45 2 | P a g e EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Kenya Coalition on Civil and Political Rights (KCCPR) is a coalition of twelve civil-society organisations that have jointly collaborated on the ensuing report. This report aims to demonstrate the prevailing environment for civil and political rights in Kenya in light of various developments, the most significant being the promulgation of the new Constitution. The report is a partial review on Kenya’s implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (hereinafter, the Covenant) illuminating a limited number of contemporary concerns. The report interrogates a number of articles under the Covenant, citing several instances and examples of violations by the state while making recommendations to ameliorate the situation in each instance. The following are the issues raised within the report and we make the following recommendations: 1. Rights of Minorities and Marginalised Communities 1.1 - Failure to protect the land rights of Marginalised Communities (Articles 1 and 27) i. That the government implements the decision in CEMIRIDE (on behalf of the Endorois Community) versus The Government of Kenya in accordance with the recommendations of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. ii. That the enactment of the legislation on community land is undertaken without further delay to provide the legal framework for the use, transfer and management of community land in line with the Constitution. iii. That the enactment of the Evictions and Resettlement Guidelines Bill 2011 is undertaken without further delay to provide the legal framework, including guidelines for evictions that accord with the Constitution and internationally accepted standards; and provide for protection against inhumane and unlawful evictions. iv. That the National Land Commission is duly constituted with a membership that complies with constitutional provisions on diversity, leadership and integrity and has requisite competencies on ascertaining the historical land rights of marginalised communities. v. That the government places a moratorium on creation of any new protected areas, new natural resource extraction and development licensing, extension of existing land and natural resource leases, or large scale development in lands falling within Article 63 of the Constitution for a minimum of two years to allow filing and adjudication of community claims. vi. That the government institutes an implementation and reparations framework for all recommendations emanating from state-sanctioned inquiries and commissions impacting on historical land injustices for marginalized communities. 1.2 - Citizenship based discrimination i. That the government of Kenya upholds the constitutional entitlement of every citizen to a Kenyan passport and any other documents of registration and identification without discrimination. 3 | P a g e ii. That the government of Kenya publishes the rules and regulations to the Citizenship and Immigration Act, 2011 without further delay to prescribe an application process for registration of stateless persons as citizens and introduce non-discriminatory procedures for registration of persons. iii. That the government of Kenya undertakes awareness campaigns on the procedure and timelines for registration of stateless persons as citizens1. iv. That the government of Kenya fully implements the recommendations issued to it by the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child in the case of IHRDA and Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI)(on behalf of children of Nubian descent in Kenya) v Kenya. v. That the government of Kenya up-scales administrative efforts to avail any document of identification to