Pressure mounts on Kenya to permit visit by UN special rapporteur
Kenya’s refusal to allow the UN special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association to conduct a visit has become a point of concern internationally.
Pressure is mounting on the Kenyan government to permit a visit by the United Nations special rapporteur to evaluate the country’s human rights situation.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) has issued fresh recommendations urging the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to grant official clearance for the visit, warning that continued delays are harming the country’s global standing.
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KNCHR says the state of human rights in the country has worsened, with defenders increasingly facing harassment, violence, and intimidation.
The commission has documented a pattern of arbitrary arrests, forced disappearances, and killings, accusing state agencies of neglecting their responsibility to safeguard rights.
“The operating environment of human rights in the country is not good; we have seen even when they are demonstrators how they are handled,” said Bernard Mugesa, CEO, KNCHR.
According to KNCHR’s assessment covering 2020 to 2022, eight human rights defenders were killed, two went missing, and 144 were detained unlawfully.
Activists believe the numbers have since increased, pointing to a growing culture of fear and state control.
“The next study will demonstrate that the statistics that you’ve seen here will go down by 30 per cent at least. There are too many state officers who are cowed by orders from above. The entire structure has become paralysed by state culture,” said Irungu Houghton, executive director, Amnesty International, as quoted by Citizen Digital.
Kenya’s refusal to allow the UN special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association to conduct a visit has become a point of concern internationally.
KNCHR says this lack of clarity from the government is raising questions about its commitment to human rights.
“It baffles us as to why the government is not clear on allowing the special rapporteur on HRD for a visit. The other rapporteurs who have expressed a desire to visit Kenya, for example, the rapporteur for the right to health, have made a similar kind of request, but they haven’t been granted,” Mugesa added.
The commission is also pushing for legal and policy reforms to formally recognise the role of human rights defenders and strengthen their protection.
It is calling on the government to ratify international instruments that reinforce the rights and safety of those working to promote justice and accountability in the country.
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