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| Formation | 1992 |
|---|---|
| Type | nongovernmental organisation |
| Purpose | Promote human rights |
| Location |
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Official language | English |
Chairman | Davinder Lamba |
Executive Director | Davis Malombe |
| Website | www |
The Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) is a non-government organisation founded in 1992 and registered in 1994. The Commission campaigns to create a culture in Kenya where human rights and democratic culture are entrenched. It does this through monitoring, documenting and publicising rights violations. [1]
The KHRC relies on donations from individuals and from organisations such as the Swedish International Development Agency, Christian Aid, Trocaire, Danish International Development Agency, United Nations Development Programme, UNIFEM, Canadian International Development Agency, The Ford Foundation, and others. [2] A board of directors provides oversight. The commission management is headed by an executive director, and programme officers are responsible for specific activities. [3] Programs involve Advocacy, Research, Monitoring and Documentation and Media, Publicity and Communication. [4]
The KHRC is a member organisation of the International Network for Economic, Social & Cultural Rights. [5] The KHRC is a partner of the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO), a non-profit research and network organisation that works on social, ecological and economic issues related to sustainable development. [6]
The KHRC tries to address the sustainability of the human rights movement, liberation of grassroots groups and organisations, social justice, accountability, and gender mainstreaming. [6] The KHRC has published a roadmap for achieving human rights in Kenya based on a six-point action plan for de-ethnicising Kenyan politics, entrenching the constitution-making process in the current constitution, implementation of Transitional Justice, preserving the independence of democratic institutions, realising gender equality and equity in Kenyan society and empowering the civic commons. [7]
Founded at a time when serious human rights abuses were prevalent in Kenya, between 1992 and 1998 the KHRC focused on monitoring, documenting and publicising violations of civil and political rights. The organisation helped strengthen the role of civil society, advocated democratic reforms and helped with the constitution-making process. Between 1999 and 2003 the KHRC began working on a broader range of economic, social and cultural rights. From 2004 onward, KHRC has been focusing on helping communities understand and claim their democratic and Human Rights. [8] In March 2004 the KHRC met with Kenya Police and the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative to discuss a Strategic plan for Police Reforms in Kenya. [9]
After the flawed Kenyan presidential election in December 2007 the executive director of the commission, Lynne Muthoni Wanyeki received death threats due to statements she had made about the elections. She was described as a traitor to the Kikuyu people. [10] Wanyeki had said the Government had used public resources to support its campaign and had failed to guarantee voter security, particularly in areas hit by ethnic conflicts. The commission was compiling a comprehensive report on human rights violations during the elections. [11] In December 2009 Muthoni Wanyeki stated that the KHRC was in favour of having the International Criminal Court (ICC) launch investigations into the post-election violence. However, human rights activists were concerned about the safety of witnesses who provided evidence to the ICC, since the government was unlikely to give them any protection. [12]
In 2009 the KHRC filed a representative suit in the British High Court on behalf of survivors of the Mau Mau, an anti-colonialist movement, seeking reparations for abuses during the extended state of emergency between 1952 and 1960. One of the objectives was to implant the tools for comprehensive transitional justice in Kenya by addressing the problems of impunity for past abuse. [13]
In May 2011 the commission issued a report in which it called for the government to decriminalise homosexuality. [14] The commission stated that "LGBTI individuals in Kenya continue to be some of the most marginalized and discriminated individuals because of their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity." It criticized anti-gay violence and discrimination, and even was supportive of gay marriage. [15]
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) is an international human rights non-governmental organization. It is supported by an International Secretariat based in Geneva, Switzerland, and staffed by lawyers drawn from a wide range of jurisdictions and legal traditions. The Secretariat and the Commission undertake advocacy and policy work aimed at strengthening the role of lawyers and judges in protecting and promoting human rights and the rule of law. In addition, the ICJ has national sections and affiliates in over 70 countries.
This article describes the use of torture since the adoption of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which prohibited it. Torture is prohibited by international law and is illegal in most countries. However, it is still used by many governments.
Human rights in Kenya internationally maintain a variety of mixed opinions; specifically, political freedoms are highlighted as being poor and homosexuality remains a crime. In the Freedom in the World index for 2017, Kenya held a rating of '4' for civil liberties and political freedoms, in which a scale of "1" to "7" is practised.
Human rights in India is an issue complicated by the country's large size and population as well as its diverse culture, despite its status as the world's largest sovereign, secular, socialist democratic republic. The Constitution of India provides for fundamental rights, which include freedom of religion, freedom of speech, as well as separation of executive and judiciary and freedom of movement within the country and abroad. The country also has an independent judiciary as well as bodies to look into issues of human rights.
The Equity and Reconciliation Commission was a Moroccan truth and reconciliation commission active under a two-year mandate from 2004 to 2005 focusing on human rights abuses committed during the Years of Lead mainly under King Hassan II's rule.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Kenya face significant challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents. Sodomy is a felony per Section 162 of the Kenyan Penal Code, punishable by 21 years' imprisonment, and any sexual practices are a felony under section 165 of the same statute, punishable by five years' imprisonment. On 24 May 2019, the High Court of Kenya refused an order to declare sections 162 and 165 unconstitutional. The state does not recognise any relationships between persons of the same sex; same-sex marriage is banned under the Kenyan Constitution since 2010. There are no explicit protections against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Adoption is restricted to heterosexual couples only.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in Turkey face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents, though the overall situation is considered to be less repressive when compared to most other Muslim-majority countries.
Transitional justice is a process which responds to human rights violations through judicial redress, political reforms and cultural healing efforts in a region or country, and other measures in order to prevent the recurrence of human rights abuse. Transitional justice consists of judicial and non-judicial measures implemented in order to redress legacies of human rights abuses. Such mechanisms "include criminal prosecutions, truth commissions, reparations programs, and various kinds of institutional reforms" as well as memorials, apologies, and various art forms. Transitional justice is instituted at a point of political transition classically from war to positive peace, or more broadly from violence and repression to societal stability and it is informed by a society's desire to rebuild social trust, reestablish what is right from what is wrong, repair a fractured justice system, and build a democratic system of governance. Given different contexts and implementation the ability to achieve these outcomes varies. The core value of transitional justice is the very notion of justice—which does not necessarily mean criminal justice. This notion and the political transformation, such as regime change or transition from conflict are thus linked to a more peaceful, certain, and democratic future.
Discussions of LGBTQI+ rights at the United Nations have included resolutions and joint statements in the United Nations General Assembly and the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), attention to the expert-led human rights mechanisms, as well as by the UN Agencies.
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea is the independent commission for protecting, advocating and promoting human rights in South Korea. This commission, by law, is guaranteed the independent status regarding all human rights issues in South Korea. According to judgment of Constitutional Court of Korea in year 2010, NHRCK is an independent agency inside executive branch of South Korean government.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in East Timor face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity are legal in East Timor, but same-sex couples and households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal protections available to opposite-sex married couples.
Kakuzi PLC is a listed Kenyan superfood producer trading on the Nairobi and London Stock Exchange, engaging in the cultivation, processing and marketing of avocados, blueberries, macadamia, tea, livestock and commercial forestry. Kakuzi continuously strives to build a sustainable agricultural portfolio that can mitigate weather risks to which the sector has historically been subjected. The company’s development plans are in full swing, with significant additional areas of avocado and macadamia being planted, and trials for blueberry development in progress.
Reparations are broadly understood as compensation given for an abuse or injury. The colloquial meaning of reparations has changed substantively over the last century. In the early 1900s, reparations were interstate exchanges that were punitive mechanisms determined by treaty and paid by the surrendering side of a conflict, such as the World War I reparations paid by Germany and its allies. Reparations are now understood as not only war damages but also compensation and other measures provided to victims of severe human rights violations by the parties responsible. The right of the victim of an injury to receive reparations and the duty of the part responsible to provide them has been secured by the United Nations.
FEMNET, also called the African Women's Development and Communication Network, is an organization established in 1984 to promote women's development in Africa. FEMNET helps non-government organizations share information and approaches on women's development, equality and other human rights.
Lynne Muthoni Wanyeki is a Kenyan political scientist, human rights activist, journalist, and the current Regional Director of Open Society Foundation's Africa Regional Office. Wanyeki is the former Regional Director of Amnesty International's Regional Office for East Africa, the Horn, and the Great Lakes. She is also the former Executive Director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission and the African Women's Development and Communication Network (FEMNET).
In Brazil, the National Truth Commission investigated human rights violations of the period of 1946–1988 - in particular by the authoritarian military dictatorship that ruled Brazil from April 1, 1964 to March 15, 1985.
Kenya's Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) was established in 2008. Kenya's modern history has been marked not only by liberation struggles but also by ethnic conflicts, semi-despotic regimes, marginalization and political violence, including the 1982 attempted coup d'état, the Shifta War, and the 2007 post-election violence.
The Gor Sungu Commission was a Kenya Parliamentary Select Committee investigating circumstances leading to the death of the late Dr. Robert Ouko.
The Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists, also known as ICJ Kenya, is a Kenyan non-governmental organisation, a National Section of the International Commission of Jurists. It is composed of lawyers and works to promote human rights and the rule of law.
The National Reconciliation Commission was established in January 2002 by the Parliament of Ghana. The goal of the commission was to establish an "accurate, complete and historical record of violations and abuses of human rights inflicted on persons by public institutions and holders of public office during periods of unconstitutional government." The Commission was formed after a new democratic party won the elections in 2000. The Commission covered human rights violations in Ghana from 1957 to 1993. It looked into government abuses and military coups staged by former president Jerry Rawlings. The members of the Commission worked until the end of 2004.
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