Kenya: Investigate Attack on Rights Activist

The Kenyan authorities should promptly and thoroughly investigate a serious physical assault on Okiya Omtatah Okoiti, a prominent human rights activist, on the evening of November 9, 2012, and bring appropriate charges, Human Rights Watch, ARTICLE 19, and East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project said today. The organizations expressed concern over the apparent lack of a serious police investigation two weeks after the violent attack on an outspoken critic of the government.

Omtatah, executive director of Kenyans for Justice and Development (KEJUDE) Trust, a local NGO that advocates for transparency and accountability, was attacked by two unidentified men in central Nairobi. He lost six teeth and suffered serious injuries to his face and the back of his head, which required surgery. Omtatah told Human Rights Watch and ARTICLE 19 that the attackers demanded that he withdraw a lawsuit he filed to demand accountability in the procurement of biometric voter registration (BVR) kits because of corruption associated with the process.

“This vicious attack was clearly meant not just to intimidate Omtatah but to seriously injure him – and perhaps even to kill him,” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The aim seems to be to stop his work on corruption in the procurement of biometric voter registration kits for the upcoming elections.”

From a bed in a Nairobi hospital, Omtatah described the attack:

The two gentlemen walked behind me in the light rain at around 8:30 p.m. As we neared I&M Bank Building, one of them called out my name, “Omtatah,” and I responded, looked back, and we waved at each other pleasantly. I did not stop. Somehow they quickened up and one overtook me. The other stayed behind me. The one in front then turned to face me and he asked me in Kiswahili and in a very polite voice: “Will you withdraw the petition you have filed in the High Court over the procurement of the biometric voter registration kit?” I responded in English with a strong “No!”

He immediately flashed something that looked like a short, thick silver stick and struck me in the face. Almost simultaneously the other one struck me with a heavy blunt object at the back of my head. I heard an exploding sound in my head as I fell in the rain, gravely injured. They stole nothing from me. I had two mobile phones and cash.

Omtatah said a police investigator had visited him in the hospital but only to take the basic facts of the attack. They did not ask him for a description of the attackers. Police at Nairobi’s Central Police Station told Human Rights Watch and ARTICLE 19 that they could not begin an investigation while Omtatah was undergoing treatment.

“Omtatah has been the sole voice of concern in the problematic biometric voter kit procurement process,” said Henry Maina, director of ARTICLE 19 Eastern Africa. “The authorities need to get to the bottom of the procurement process and protect Omtatah’s right to seek the truth and they need to hold everyone responsible for corruption and for this attack accountable as well.”

Kenya’s 2007 elections were marked by controversy and violence, resulting in more than 1,000 deaths countrywide and causing more than 600,000 people to flee their homes. The problem was partly due to flaws in the integrity of the electoral process, which undermined confidence in the results. A commission of inquiry looking at the elections recommended a shift from the manual voter registration system to an electronic system to fix problems with the voter register.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC)is trying to introduce biometric voter registration kits to improve the process, but the procurement process has been fraught with controversy, with allegations of bribery, influence peddling, and irregularities in the tendering process. Last July the commission’s tender committee resigned to protest what it called external influences on the process and the IEBC. The biometric voter kit uses specific facial features to identify each voter during voting to prevent fraud.

The lowest bidder in the BVR tender, 4G Identity Solutions of India, was disqualified in August 2012. The company’s CEO, Sreeni Tripuraneni, said that the company was being punished for refusing to pay 30 million Kenyan shillings in bribes to senior officials in Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Ministry. In September 2012 the IEBC canceled the tender altogether, prompting an inquiry by a parliamentary committee. The IEBC Chairman, Isaack Hassan, told the committee that his commission had come “under immense pressure from external interests” who sought to influence the tender.

“Omtatah has been keeping the IEBC on its toes and, together with others, making sure the process is transparent and fair,” Maina said. “In the end, the credibility of Kenya’s electoral process is at stake.”

After the cancellation of the tender the Kenyan government took over the procurement process amid protests from some civil society groups about possible manipulation and implications for the independence of IEBC.

Omtatah’s KEJUDE and other civil society groups have raised concerns about the rising costs – from an initial 3.9 billion Kenyan shillings for 9,750 BVR kits under the IEBC to 9.6 billion Kenyan shillings for 1,500 BVR kits when the government took over. Omtatah went to court to stop the process over the alleged corruption. He filed detailed documents in court that appeared to show that Kenya would lose up to 4 billion Kenyan shillings in the deal.

The three organizations said Omtatah might be in danger if the authorities fail to assure his safety. Kenya has a responsibility to respect and protect the rights of human rights defenders, as contained in the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, as well as to provide effective remedies for any violations of these rights. The government should urgently order a full and impartial investigation into the attack and prosecute those responsible.

“The authorities must investigate this vicious attack and bring those responsible to justice,” said Hassan Shire, executive director of East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project. “Activists need to be able to carry their work without the fear of violent repercussions.”

Source: Human Rights Watch

Kenya: High Court Ruling in Mortgage Dispute

(Obiter as per Ogola, J.)

"Really where is justice? Banks cannot just hide behind the contracts they make, regardless of how unjust they are, to literally destroy their customers. Without their customers the banks cannot operate. A time has come for banks in Kenya to look into the eyes of their customers and answer the question: Are banks Kenyans? Or have they just entered Kenya for business? Banks in Kenya reign large.

I am reminded of a predator who after killing the prey is not satisfied to leave the carcass to the vultures, but becomes both the predator and the vulture, killing the prey and gleaning the meat from the carcass to ensure the prey is really dead. I am also reminded of a robber killing his victim and not only attending his funeral, but insisting on carrying the casket to the grave to confirm that his victim is dead and buried."

Captain J N Wafubwa vs Housing Finance Co. of Kenya

High Court at Nairobi - Milimani Commercial Courts

E.K O Ogolla. J

April 26, 2012

Ownership of a home in Kenya is a dream for many Kenyans. That is why many banks have gone into mortgage financing in a quest to fulfill the dream of many citizens of owning a home by taking a mortgage. Usually, the mortgage instrument is a standard contract across the board that gives the Bank the right to sell the mortgaged property in case the borrower is unable to repay the loan as stipulated in the Contract.

In exercising its right of statutory power of sale, the bank may sometimes err and cause serious frustrations to the borrower of the loan similar to what happened in the present case. Captain Wafubwa took a mortgage from the defendant, Housing Finance (HFCK) in 1989 and ran into arrears which gave HFCK the right to sell his mortgaged property to recover the loan.

The facts

The Plaintiff in this case, Captain Wafubwa took a mortgage with Housing Finance Company of Kenya in 1989. He fell into arrears with the repayments. The bank in exercise of its statutory power of sale held a public auction in 1996 and sold off the property for Ksh 4.5M to United Millers Ltd who were supposed to pay 25% of the price at the fall of the hammer.

United Millers paid the 25% but did not follow through the transaction and therefore the house was not transferred to them. They therefore forfeited the deposit of about Kshs. 1,125,000. The bank in its testimony testified that the said deposit of the money went to its profit and loss account and therefore the borrower still owed the bank money.

In 2009, the Bank sold the suit property through a private treaty to a third party for Kshs 4.5M an amount, which it was worth 13 years back. At that point in time, HFCK claimed they were owed Ksh. 11M by Captain Wafubwa. With this amount, the Bank credited Captain Wafubwa's account and still asked him to repay more than Kshs. 6.8M remaining as part of the debt.

Before the bank did the private treaty, the Captain had sought to redeem his house to no avail and had taken his battle to the Court of Appeal. In the Court of Appeal, it was agreed by a majority decision that the right of redemption by Captain Wafubwa had been extinguished at the fall of the hammer but with one Judge of Appeal dissenting.

The dissenting Judge argued that the right to redeem the house had not been extinguished at the fall of the hammer since the sale was never finalized and as such, the owner still had a chance to redeem his house. However, since a decision by the majority of the Judges had been reached, the owner had no recourse but to seek alternative civil remedy, which resulted in this suit. The Captain went to court claiming wrongful eviction and also claiming the deposit paid in 1996 of Kshs. 1,125,000 and the balance of Kshs. 20,000.

The mortgage had been entered into under the Indian Transfer of Property Act 1882 (now repealed) which at section 69 (c) provides for the mechanism of how proceeds of a sale or attempted sale are to be applied when a bank exercises its statutory power of sale. The section provides;

"The money which is received by a mortgagee, arising from a sale by him under the mortgagee's statutory power of sale after discharge of prior encumbrances to which the sale is not made subject, if any, or after payment into court of a sum to meet any prior encumbrances, shall be held by him in trust to be applied by him, first, in payment of all costs, charges, and expenses properly incurred by him as incident to the sale or any attempted sale, or otherwise, and secondly in discharge of the mortgage - money, interest, and costs, and other money, if any, due under the mortgage, and the residue of the money so received shall be paid to the person entitled to the mortgaged property, or authorized to give receipts for the proceeds of the sale thereof."

Court Findings

The court opined that the auction sale which took place on November 8, 1996 was a "sale" or an "attempted sale" and therefore the deposit received from it could only be spent as provided under the Act and the balance thereof after deducting the costs and charges had to be used to reduce the mortgage debt and interest, with the residue, if any, given to Captain Wafubwa.

From the foregoing the court found that Captain Wafubwa was entitled to the said credit balance of Kshs.20, 662.80 immediately the deposit of 25% was made pursuant to the attempted sale on 8th November 1996. This being so, his property ought not to have been sold by private treaty in February 2009 as at that time the Captain did not owe HFCK any money on account of the aforesaid mortgage transaction. Captain Wafubwa was therefore entitled to his property.

However since the property was sold to a purchaser for value without notice of the preceding events, and since title had passed to the said purchaser upon the transfer registered on April 21, 2009, Captain Wafubwa was only entitled to the value of his property as at the time of the transfer to the Purchaser together with the expected appreciation in value since, the court said.

Judgment was hence entered for Captain Wafubwa for (a) Kshs.20,662.80/= with interests at 27.5% p.a. with effect from November 12, 1996 till payment in full, (b) Kshs.4, 500,000/= with interest at 27.5% p.a. with effect from February 9, 2009 till payment in full being the value of the suit premises from date of sale and (c) Cost of the Suit with interests thereon at court rates.

Source: All Africa

Assassinations, Disappearances, and Riots: What’s Happening in Mombasa?

The international community’s attention to Kenya has been sharply focused on the upcoming March 2013 elections and preventing the type of horrific ethnic violence that surrounded the 2007 election. But other things, big things, are afoot.

On Monday, August 27, Muslim cleric Aboud Rogo Mohammad, who the United States had placed on its sanctions list in July, was gunned down in Mombasa, Kenya. The death sparked outrage from the Muslim community and led to violent protests. Rogo’s death followed a spate of other suspicious disappearances, as well as the death of another Kenyan who was alleged to have been involved in terrorist-related activities.

It’s uncertain who the assailants have been, but many suspect Kenyan government involvement, with some witnesses saying the abductors identified themselves as police.

To gain a better understanding of Rogo’s death and the Mombasa riots, I spoke with Al Amin Kimathi, a human rights activist who is the chair of the Muslim Human Rights Forum in Kenya.

Could you provide a description of your organization, the Muslim Human Rights Forum, and the work that it does?

The Muslim Human Rights Forum is a human rights organization based in the Muslim community, but we work with all civil society groups working on minority rights. The Muslim Human Rights Forum has focused a lot of attention on counterterrorism and human rights monitoring, which focuses on Kenya and the East Africa and the Horn of Africa regions. I work extensively on these issues and have been involved in counterterrorism and human rights investigations in the region, collaborating with local and regional civil society groups.

There are news reports out of Mombasa that a controversial cleric, Aboud Rogo Mohammad, was gunned down on Monday, August 27. At the time of his death he faced charges relating to terrorist activities. Since then there has been rioting in Mombasa. How much is known about what happened to Rogo, and who killed him?

The Muslim Human Rights Forum had been monitoring the legal proceedings against Rogo, as well and other terrorism-related trials in Kenya. Of those cases, around six defendants have disappeared before Rogo met his demise. Rogo and a colleague, Abubakar Shariff Ahmed, had concerns about their safety even before Rogo was killed. He reported his concerns to the police after someone attempted to abduct the two men while they were on their way to a court appearance in July. Then, about a week ago, Rogo reported to MHRF that his son was accosted by people who identified themselves as police from the Flying Squad, which is a unit that deals with motor vehicle theft and armed robberies. However, Rogo’s son was convinced they were really counterterrorism agents and identified them as having been involved in Rogo’s previous arrest. The police told the son that they were looking for his father and warned him not to give them a hard time or any headaches like his father did. Rogo had also recently been put on the U.S. sanctions list. In response, Rogo’s lawyer wrote a letter to the Kenyan government requesting what information the U.S. had against Rogo. The lawyer warned that he thought Rogo’s listing on the sanctions list could lead to his disappearance.

It’s difficult to say who killed Rogo. But when you look at circumstantial evidence, the pattern of events, the modus operandi, and the audacity with which the killing took place, it all points to the hand of the state. For example, in April of this year, activist and Islamic preacher Samir Hashim Khan and Mohammed Bekhit Kassim were abducted in Mombasa in broad daylight while on public transportation. Witnesses saw the two men taken away in two white Toyota Probox station wagons and, based on their behavior, the abductors were police officers. The body of Khan was found two days later 150 kilometers from Mombasa off a highway. His body was badly mutilated. Kassim, the other man, has still not been found or heard from. [Author’s note: Kenyan officials have denied involvement in Rogo’s death and instances of disappearances.]

Have there been incidents like this in the past? Why did this incident in particular spark rioting?

Rogo’s death was the immediate event that sparked the riots. But there were also demonstrations—though not bloody—when Samir Khan’s body was found. So there has been a build-up leading to the riots. The rioters were saying “enough is enough.” The disappearances and killings, taken together led to the riots.

What is the situation like in Mombasa currently? How bad is the rioting?

Behavior on both sides, the police and civilians, has been pretty bad. Rioters have gone to the extent of killing a man near a mosque in Mombasa. On Tuesday there was also a hand grenade thrown at police. Three churches were also torched down on Tuesday, and the churches are demanding compensation from government. There’s also been an unprecedentedly high-level of looting in Mombasa, including the burning of business and vehicles. This continued for two days. Then there was calm most of today, Wednesday, but there are now reports of one or two dead and several injuries from a grenade attack on police, which brought a renewed round of confrontation between police and rioters.

As for state security forces, in the Majengo area of Mombasa, which is the epicenter of rioting, the General Service Unit (GSU) mounted house-to-house searches for Muslim youths and rounded them up and put them into trucks. Twenty-four were taken to court this afternoon [Wednesday], but it’s not yet known what happened to others. The police also raided a hospital where Rogo’s wife was, and heavily armed police came onto the streets by the time Rogo was buried—which was 3 hours after his death.

This strong police presence so soon after the death didn’t go over well with the youths. It led to exchanges in stone throwing, tear gas, and live ammunition. There’s a lot of very high tension in Mombasa and the tension is spreading to Nairobi, though there aren’t any riots or demonstrations in the capital yet. But, for example, in a low income neighborhood, Pumwani Majengo, which has a large Muslim population, plainclothes police from various units have surrounded it. Pumwani Majengo is an area that authorities fear harbors al Shabaab members and they allege it’s a base for the Muslim Youth Center. [Author’s note: The MYC is an organization that a UN report labeled as contributing to recruiting for al Shabaab and setting up operational cells in Kenya.]

Has the situation gotten better, or will it get worse?

I am concerned that the situation will get worse after Friday prayers, where the youth might try to escalate their protests. Muslim, Christian, and political leaders have been urging calm, but the Mombasa youth is not following suit. The leaders who the youth listen to have not been sufficiently brought into the outreach efforts. Meanwhile, the police are being overly cautious, and are bringing out heavily armed units, which is enflaming the situation. There are fears of interreligious conflict if the situation isn’t properly handled. We are seeing very heated debates on the social media. The fact that churches were targeted is evidence of religious tensions. But Muslim and Christian leadership are trying to cool the tempers.

In your view, how should the government respond to these instances of killings and disappearances?

Now that the killings and disappearances took place, an investigation is needed. Prosecutors announced that there will be an investigation into Rogo’s death. The investigation will include people from the Kenyan Law Society and Kenyan Human Rights Commission. An investigation with independence and impartiality is a move in the right direction. Previous investigations without those qualities haven’t proven effective. There’s not a lot of credibility in them. The Muslim Human Rights Forum is calling for a Commission of Inquiry with judicial authority to inspire more confidence in the investigation. Also, Kenya must provide assurances that it does not use extrajudicial means to conduct its counterterrorism operations. Officials must be prosecuted is they were involved in any of those acts.

There has been a lot of debate in Kenya, starting all the way back in 2003, about passing an anti-terrorism legislation that would be discriminatory towards the Muslim community. This debate has picked up steam again and a bill is now with parliament for review. Some government officials say the bill has been amended to respond to its critics. Do you still have concerns with this bill?

I believe that we do need anti-terrorism legislation, but it must conform to the new constitution, including the bill of rights, and international human rights standards. In the past, civil society has prevented the adoption of anti-terrorism laws because of what they allowed the state to do. Currently, the draft bill still gives too much power [to the state], allows for no oversight, and allows for too many derogations of rights. Provisions on seizing property, intercepting communications, and clamping down on organizational activities goes against the freedom of assembly. There’s no judicial recourse for the law’s enforcement, and it criminalizes the lawyer-client relationship. I’m also concerned that the bill could be used not just for counterterrorism operations, but also to suppress political opposition. There are also a lot of newly discovered natural resources, like oil and gas, in Muslim populated areas, and there is concern that the laws could be used against Muslims in order to reap the benefits of those resources. We want to see provisions in the bill that punish unlawful counterterrorism activities. Anti-terrorism authorities have to be held accountable for their actions.

How do you view the role of international donors, such as the U.S. or U.K., in Kenya’s counterterrorism efforts?

In many ways, the Kenyan government has, in the past, overhyped terrorism to bring in donor funding, which then makes the Kenyan government take actions to show the donors that it’s doing something. Nonetheless, the donor community should be focused more on the social dynamics that result in terrorism rather than a militarized response. Specific attention should be given to marginalized populations, such as areas in northeastern Kenya with strong Muslim and ethnic Somali populations, the Coastal region, and poor neighborhood in urban centers, all of which are deprived areas needing economic assistance.

Source: ReliefWeb

Kenya: Set Independent Inquiry on Mombasa Killing

The Kenyan government should establish an independent inquiry into the killing of Aboud Rogo, a controversial cleric, on August 27, 2012, and subsequent riots in Mombasa.

Rogo, who was facing charges of illegal possession of weapons and recruiting for the Somali Islamist group al-Shabaab, was shot to death in his car while he was driving outside Mombasa. Following his burial later in the afternoon of August 27, riots erupted across the Mombasa town center and continued on August 28. Cars were set alight, several churches were vandalized, and at least two people were killed. One was a prison officer working with the police to contain the riots and the other a civilian killed by rioters. Police told reporters that they arrested 22 people in connection with the riots.

“The killing of Aboud Rogo is a serious crime that needs speedy independent and impartial investigation,” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “In the meantime, police should continue to stick within the law in confronting the riots sparked by Rogo’s death.”

Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that an unmarked vehicle overtook the car Rogo was driving with six passengers, including his wife, on Malindi road on August 27 and that two gunmen opened fire at close range. Rogo was shot in the head and died at the scene. His wife was also shot and is in a hospital.

The riots were in the Majengo and Kisauni areas of Mombasa. At least 24 people were admitted to hospitals with injuries related to the unrest, with three people critically injured, media reported. Youths interviewed by Human Rights Watch said they were protesting the suspected involvement of the Kenyan authorities in Rogo’s death.

Rogo’s killing follows the abductions and deaths earlier this year of several other people charged with recruitment and other offenses related to al-Shabaab.

In March, Samir Khan, who was also charged with possession of illegal firearms and recruiting for al-Shabaab, and his friend Mohammed Kassim were pulled from a public bus in Mombasa by men who stopped the bus and identified themselves as police officers, Khan’s lawyer, Mbugua Mureithi, told Human Rights Watch. Khan’s body was found, badly mutilated, a few days later in Tsavo national park. Kassim’s whereabouts remain unknown. Kassim had previously been abducted in Nairobi in February, under unclear circumstances, but was released after his captors interrogated him. Police briefed journalists at the time, saying he had been arrested by the Anti Terror Police Unit, but they later denied arresting him.

Rogo had complained of police threats before his death and requested protection. On July 24, Rogo had reported to the police, the Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights, and the court in which he was being tried for recruiting for al-Shabaab, that unknown assailants had attempted to abduct him and his co-accused Abubakar Shari Ahmed when they arrived in Nairobi for the court hearing. He swore an affidavit that men in civilian clothes who claimed to be police officers tried to force the two men into an unmarked car. He said that he and Ahmed had challenged the men to produce identification and that passers-by helped the two men resist being forced into the car.

Mureithi, who is also Rogo’s lawyer, sought an assurance from the prosecution that the attempted abduction would be investigated and that Rogo’s security would be assured. The court ordered the Officer Commanding Station of Kamkunji police station to investigate. Mureithi told Human Rights Watch that Rogo frequently expressed concern about being followed by police and spoke of threats from known police agents who he said told him that, “The state will find a way of dealing with you.” Rogo had requested that the case be transferred to Mombasa where he felt safer and where he was also facing other charges for illegal possession of weapons and explosives.

Rogo was on United States and United Nations sanctions lists for alleged support of al-Shabaab. In 2005 he was acquitted on murder charges related to the 2002 attack on a hotel in Mombasa, which killed 12 people.

According to the Mombasa-based human rights group Muslims for Human Rights (MUHURI) four people have disappeared after being arrested by the police during 2012. MUHURI and the Muslim Human Rights Forum (MHRF) have accounts from witnesses who said that the abductors identified themselves as police officers before taking away Ngoy Moise Kayembe and Shani Marove Lydia in February and Musa Osodo and Jacob Musyoka Matheka in Molo in May.

Osodo was facing charges in a Mombasa court for membership of al-Shabaab and was one of six suspects charged with killing a police officer. Two of his co-defendants, Steven Mwandi Osaka and Jeremiah Onyango Okumu, disappeared in June, also after being pulled from a public bus in Mombasa by men in civilian clothes. They have not been seen since.

Police claim to be investigating Khan’s murder and the disappearance of the others.

“The abductions, disappearances, and in some cases murder of people who are thought to be linked to al-Shabaab is incredibly disturbing,” Lefkow said. “The Kenya police are facing a crisis of confidence in Mombasa. The government needs to act swiftly to investigate and prosecute those responsible for these crimes.”

The killing and the disappearances highlight the need for urgent completion of police reforms, including the setting up of the National Police Service Commission that is responsible for investigating the police, and that was supposed to be operational earlier this year.

The riots that began on August 27 continued throughout August 28. Two churches were attacked. One was set on fire and one was looted of electrical equipment. Shops and two cars were set on fire and burning tires placed in the road in several areas of town. Police engaged in running battles with rioters, firing tear gas and rubber bullets. Prison officers were brought in as reinforcements. Twenty-four people were admitted to hospitals by the afternoon of August 28. The prison officer was killed and 12 others injured when youths threw a grenade at a patrol in the Kisauni area of Mombasa.

The deputy provincial police officer, second in command in Coast province, told Human Rights Watch that police were trying to contain the violence with “minimum force” but would not rule out the use of live ammunition. The UN standards on the use of force and firearms by law enforcement officials state that, “In the dispersal of violent assemblies, law enforcement officials may use firearms only when less dangerous means are not practicable and only to the minimum extent necessary.”

“So far the police appear to have exercised admirable restraint in confronting the insecurity in Mombasa,” Lefkow said. “Now they need to use precision and intelligence to pursue the people who caused the violence, avoiding indiscriminate actions.”

Source: Human Rights Watch

Nobel Peace Prize Awarded to Three Activist Women

Left, Leymah Gbowee; center: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; right: Tawakkol Karman.

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2011 was awarded on Friday to three women from Africa and the Arab world in acknowledgment of their nonviolent role in promoting peace, democracy and gender equality. The winners were President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia — the first woman to be elected president in modern Africa — her compatriot, the peace activist Leymah Gbowee, and Tawakkol Karman of Yemen, a pro-democracy campaigner.

They were the first women to win the prize since Wangari Maathai of Kenya, who died last month, was named as the laureate in 2004. Most of the recipients in the award’s 110-year history have been men, and Friday’s decision seemed designed to give impetus to the fight for women’s rights around the world. “We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society,” said the citation read by Thorbjorn Jagland, a former Norwegian prime minister who heads the Oslo-based Nobel committee that chooses the winner of the $1.5 million prize. In a subsequent interview, he described the prize as “a very important signal to women all over the world.”

Sitting inside her blue tent at the antigovernment sit-in where she has lived since late February, Ms. Karman, the Yemeni human rights activist, said “I didn’t expect it,” her eyes growing wide, a red flowered veil around her head. “It came as a total surprise.”

Ms. Karman, 32, a mother of three, took to the streets of the capital along with about 50 other university students in January, demanding the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. “This is a victory for Arabs around the world,” she said of the prize, adding “and a victory for Arab women.”

In Liberia, Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf said that she and Ms. Gbowee accepted “this honor on behalf of the Liberian people, and the credit goes to them. For we are now going into our ninth year of peace, and every Liberian has contributed to it,” she said. “We particularly give this credit to Liberian women, who have consistently led the struggle for peace, even under conditions of neglect.” Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf is nearing the end of a heated re-election campaign, and as the world absorbed the news of her prize, her nation’s capital, Monrovia, was virtually shut down by a previously scheduled rally intended to energize the opposition before the vote on Tuesday. Mr. Jagland said the election had not influenced the committee’s decision, calling the ballot there a “domestic consideration.” Analysts in Liberia have described the president’s re-election prospects as uncertain, though the Nobel announcement could change that. The Nobel committee’s decision underscored the gap between local perceptions of her — it is not hard to find critics of the president in Liberia — and the view from abroad. Indeed, while Liberians widely acknowledge that peace and security have improved markedly during her tenure, Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf’s success in securing forgiveness for billions of dollars worth of Liberian debt and the change she has effected in the nation’s once brutal international image are often less appreciated in Monrovia than among outsiders. Unemployment is daunting, and the country is still mired in poverty. But some residents took obvious pride in the decision. As the prize was announced, Bushuben Keita, a spokesman for Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf’s Unity Party, declared: “We are dancing. This is the thing that we have been saying: progress has been made in Liberia. We’ve come through 14 years of war, and we have come to sustained peace. “This is proof that she has been doing well; there’s no cheating in this, this comes from other people. She’s doing very, very well. Her progress has been confirmed by the international community.”

In Yemen, Ms. Karman called the prize “the victory of our peaceful revolution. I am so happy, and I give this award to all of the youth and all of the women across the Arab world, in Egypt, in Tunisia.” “We cannot build our country or any country in the world without peace,” she said. In an op-ed piece published in The New York Times on June 18, Ms. Karman, whose first name in Arabic has been spelled as both Tawakkol and Tawakul, characterized President Saleh’s regime as a corrupt failure, and she urged the United States to quit supporting him even though he has portrayed himself as indispensable to the American effort to eliminate Al Qaeda operatives in Yemen. American officials have been pressing Mr. Saleh to relinquish power in a peaceful transition.

In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, one of the world’s most powerful women, praised the award recipients. “The unflinching courage, strength and leadership of these women to build peace, advance reconciliation and defend the rights of fellow citizens in their own countries provide inspiration for women’s rights and human progress everywhere,” Mrs. Clinton said in a statement.

In Egypt, several activists who had been rumored to be in contention for the prize for their roles in the Egyptian revolution — the Google executive Wael Ghonim, the online organizer Esraa Abdel Fatah and the members of the April 6 Youth Movement — expressed pride that a young Arab had won the Nobel. They declared that the true prize they sought was the fruition of the Egyptian revolution in the development of democracy in Egypt and the region. “We will work hard even if we didn’t get the Nobel prize,” Waleed Rashed, a spokesman for the April 6 group, said in an Internet posting.

More than 250 people were nominated for the prize this year, and there had been speculation that the committee would reward bloggers or other activists from the Middle East who used social networking sites and other Internet platforms as they challenged entrenched dictatorships, particularly in Tunisia and Egypt. But if the committee had singled out the Arab Spring, it could have courted criticism that, far from rewarding efforts toward peace, it had chosen a phenomenon whose final outcome in Egypt and Tunisia is far from clear, and which has provoked bloodletting and strife in Libya, Syria, Yemen and Bahrain. Mr. Jagland said the 2011 prize recognized those “who were there long before the world’s media was there reporting.” The announcement in the Norwegian capital followed intense speculation that the prize would be awarded variously to a figure from the Arab Spring, the European Union or exclusively to Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf, 72, a Harvard-educated economist, who has often been cast as a pioneer in African politics.

In a recent interview with the Paris-based monthly magazine The Africa Report, Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf said she did not “want Africa to return to the men’s club” and forecast that women would take over in more African countries. “It will definitely happen in other countries because many women are now vying for the presidency, which didn’t happen much in the past,” said Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf, who was inaugurated in January 2006. She was broadly perceived as a reformer and peacemaker when she took office after several years in exile, during which she worked as a World Bank economist.

In Yemen, Ms. Karman has been widely known as a vocal opponent of the pro-American regime of Mr. Saleh since 2007, leading a human rights advocacy group called Women Journalists Without Chains. But it was only earlier this year — before the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt had gained momentum — that her readiness to take to the streets inspired thousands more in Yemen to do the same. Her brief arrest by the authorities in January incensed many people and is credited by some analysts in Yemen with starting the widespread protests that have convulsed the impoverished land since. Some of her supporters have labeled her “the Mother of Revolution.” Since then, however, she has become a contentious figure, criticized even by some in the anti-Saleh opposition, and her share in the prize could stir further debate among antigovernment activists. Among women of Yemen’s Arab neighbors, however, the choice of Ms. Karman was cause for celebration, both for women and Islam. Nadia Mostafa, a professor of international relations at Cairo University, said the prize was endowed with “political significance.” “Islam has always been associated with radical terrorism, intolerance and more,” she said. “Giving it to a woman and an Islamist? That means a sort of re-evaluation. It means Islam is not against peace, it’s not against women, and Islamists can be women activists, and they can fight for human rights, freedom and democracy.”

Ms. Gbowee, 39, was cited by the Nobel committee for uniting Christian and Muslim women against her country’s warlords. As head of the Women for Peace movement, she was praised for mobilizing women “across ethic and religious dividing lines to bring an end to the long war” that had raged for years in Liberia until its end in 2003 and for ensuring “women’s participation in elections.” Her organization was founded in 2002 when Ms. Gbowee rallied women to sing and pray to protest fighting in a fish market. “This whole process of three women receiving the Nobel Peace Prize is really overwhelming,” Ms. Gbowee said in a telephone interview in New York, where she had just arrived on the last stop of an eight-city tour in the United States to promote “Mighty Be Our Powers,” her new memoir describing her life in war-torn Liberia. “It’s finally a recognition that we can’t ignore the other half of the world’s population. We cannot ignore their unique skills.” Asked whom she was going to vote for when she returned to Liberia for the election on Tuesday, Ms. Gbowee said: “President Johnson Sirleaf.”

Vaiba Flomo, a women’s right activists who has worked with Ms. Gbowee since 1998, said: “What motivated Leymah was the children she saw dying from starvation; women are getting raped, receiving multiple traumas. People shared with her, made her to come to know these things.” Without such commitment, she said, “half the Liberian youth population will be amputated. It’s good news for the Liberian people,” said Emmanuel Ogbodu, a teacher, standing by the side of the road in the ramshackle seaside capital, referring to Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf. “It’s a good way for peace in Liberia. Since she got in the chair, for me, we are experiencing peace. So I think she deserved it. Through her, peace came.”

Immediate reaction in Monrovia was muted as the news was slow to spread. But some who had heard expressed satisfaction. “I appreciate her highly, very well,” said Kona Ndoma, a civil servant. “She has done very much for developmental purposes. So now, we go for the second term, please,” said Mr. Ndoma. “She stabilized peace. There is no gunfire at all.” A woman selling fritters by the side of the road, Christiana Sami, said: “She deserves it, because she has developed the area. She’s done some important things.” A student, Grace Kollie, 18, walking to school, said: “She increased the education system in Liberia. She also carried on good development in the country.”

Forecasts of the winner are rarely accurate. In 2009, the committee stunned Nobel watchers by awarding the prize to President Obama. Last year’s winner was the Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo — a choice that infuriated the Chinese authorities and led them to take reprisals against Norway. Mr. Liu was not allowed to leave China to receive the prize and was represented on stage at the award ceremony in December by an empty chair.

In the past the prize has not infrequently been split among several recipients, including the 1994 prize shared by the Palestinian Yasser Arafat and the Israelis Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin; the 1978 award to Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Menachem Begin of Israel; and the 1973 prize to Henry A. Kissinger of the United States and Le Duc Tho of North Vietnam.

Source: New York Times

The Hague: 6 Top Kenyan Politicians Are Summoned

Six top politicians from Kenya have been summoned to appear at the International Criminal Court in April to answer charges of crimes against humanity in connection with Kenya’s election violence in 2007 and 2008. The men, whose names were first cited by the prosecutor in December, include Uhuru Kenyatta, finance minister and son of Kenya’s founding leader; Mohammed Hussein Ali, the former police chief; and several other ministers. Coinciding with the court’s announcement, Kenyan government envoys have arrived at the United Nations in New York, seeking to block the move.

Source: New York Times

Kenya: Halt Anti-Gay Campaign

Kenya's government should act quickly to protect people accused of homosexual conduct and groups offering HIV/AIDS services from vigilante attacks, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Kenyan authorities.

The vigilante violence has hit Mtwapa, a coastal town northeast of Mombasa, in recent days and appears to be spreading to Mombasa and elsewhere. Human Rights Watch called on Kenya's government to speak out against the voices that incite hatred and foment the attacks.

"The government is sitting silent while mobs try to kill human rights defenders and assault people they suspect are gay," said Dipika Nath, researcher in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) rights program at Human Rights Watch. "Inaction is complicity, and silence can be lethal."

In late January, 2010, unsubstantiated rumors about a "gay wedding" scheduled for February 12 started circulating in Mtwapa, in Kilifi District. Local and national radio stations picked up the unconfirmed story. On February 7, several imams and muftis (Islamic scholars) told their congregations during Friday prayers to be vigilant and to "expose" homosexuals in Mtwapa.

On February 11, Sheikh Ali Hussein of the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya and Bishop Lawrence Chai of the National Council of Churches of Kenya held a news conference. As reported by Daily Nation and by other witnesses who have spoken to Human Rights Watch, the two religious leaders demanded an investigation of the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), a government health center that provides HIV/AIDS services to the community. They criticized the government for "providing counselling services to these criminals" and demanded that the KEMRI office in Mtwapa be shut down, the reports said.

Local activists told Human Rights Watch that, in a statement after the meeting, the religious leaders promised to "flush out gays." The Daily Nation reported that Chai is the leader of a network called "Operation Gays Out," whose actual numbers and aims are not known.

On February 12, an armed mob of 200 to 300 people surrounded the KEMRI health center. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that a man called "Faridi," an organizer of the mob, said a KEMRI staff member was homosexual because he wore a T-shirt promoting safer sex. In response, police who were at the scene took him and another KEMRI staffer into custody.

Earlier the same day, Faridi, with police, forcibly entered another private individual's home, claiming that the two people in the house were homosexual. Police took the two into custody, too. Local activists have informed Human Rights Watch that none of the men were charged and they have all since been released, and that the police were attempting to protect them from violence by taking them into custody.

The mob beat senseless another man who was approaching the health center and was about to set him on fire when the police arrived and took him into custody as well.

A large crowd gathered outside the police station where the five were being held. A religious leader addressed the mob, saying all homosexuals should be driven out of Mtwapa, and another speaker encouraged the mob to not bother bringing homosexuals to the police but rather to take the law into its own hands, witnesses said. Other speakers said that homosexuals had appeared in Mtwapa when KEMRI opened its offices there. Smaller groups reportedly went to the homes of other people suspected of being gay and threatened them.

Local sources told Human Rights Watch that the mob attacks appeared planned rather than spontaneous. According to reports received by Human Rights Watch, none of the attackers have been arrested.

Accounts of the attacks and arrests filled the front pages of the next day's local and national newspapers.

A mob attacked and severely beat up another KEMRI volunteer on February 13, and the police again took the victim into custody. The same day, a person was beaten up in Mombasa on suspicion of being gay, and a second person was attacked in Mombasa on February 16. Local activists are attempting to determine the condition and whereabouts of those victims.

Sheikh Ali Hussein declared on the radio on February 17 that Muslims would march in Mtwapa on February 19 to protest against homosexuality. Local activists fear the demonstration may extend to mosques along the coast, including in Mombasa.

"The police need to arrest the attackers and put a halt to what appears to be a coordinated nationwide attack on people perceived to be homosexual," Nath said. "The disruption of lifesaving HIV/AIDS work could mean a public health catastrophe as well as a human rights disaster."

The attacks and hate-mongering and the government's failure to act have spread fear in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, Human Rights Watch said. Several people have gone into hiding; others are preparing to flee their homes at a moment's notice.

The attacks on the health center risk exacerbating the HIV/AIDS epidemic not only among men who have sex with men, but among all Kenyans. HIV prevalence in Kenya is more than 16 percent, and more than 1.5 million Kenyans have died from HIV/AIDS-related illness.

Vigilante violence and panic promote an atmosphere in which any discussion of sexuality will be silenced, and vulnerable populations driven underground, Human Rights Watch said. KEMRI's Mtwapa offices have been closed since the attacks. There are plans to reopen the center, but KEMRI staff remain nervous about further attacks.

Although the declared reason for the six men's detention was to protect them, news reports said authorities asked the men to submit to forensic examinations to determine if they are homosexual. Five of them refused and the sixth consented and was examined, although no "evidence" of homosexuality is reported to have been found. Forensic medical examinations to "prove" homosexual conduct are archaic and discredited. If conducted without genuine consent, they may constitute torture or inhuman or degrading treatment, Human Rights Watch said.

Chapter V of the Constitution of Kenya guarantees to all Kenyans the rights to life, liberty, security of person, and privacy (articles 70, 71, and 72); articles 79, 80, and 81 protect individuals' freedom of expression, association and assembly, and movement. Article 82 protects against discrimination and states that "no law shall make any provision that is discriminatory either of itself or in its effect."

Section 162 of the Kenyan Penal Code punishes "carnal knowledge... against the order of nature" with up to 14 years in prison. This law is a relic of Kenya's colonial past, as Human Rights Watch has previously reported. British colonizers imposed laws to control social and sexual conduct, though some political and religious leaders now defend them as part of "authentic" culture and tradition.

The Penal Code's provisions contravene not only constitutional protections but international human rights standards. Article 2 of the African Charter on Human and People's Rights prohibits discrimination on all grounds; articles 3 and 19 secure for all the right to equality; articles 5 and 6 guarantee the right to dignity and liberty; and articles 10 and 11 guarantee freedom of association and assembly.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee, which authoritatively interprets the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and evaluates states' compliance with its provisions, found in the 1994 case of Toonen v. Australia that laws criminalizing consensual homosexual conduct among adults violate the ICCPR's protections for private life and against discrimination. Further, article 9 of the ICCPR secures for all the right to liberty, security, and rights against arbitrary detention, and article 7 of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders specifically secures the right to "develop and discuss new human rights ideas and principles and to advocate their acceptance."

The report of the special representative of the secretary-general on human rights defenders to the UN General Assembly specifically identifies human rights defenders from lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex communities as being at particular risk and calls for greater state vigilance in protecting their rights.

Source: Human Rights Watch

Kenya: Halt Anti-Gay Campaign

Kenya's government should act quickly to protect people accused of homosexual conduct and groups offering HIV/AIDS services from vigilante attacks, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Kenyan authorities. The vigilante violence has hit Mtwapa, a coastal town northeast of Mombasa, in recent days and appears to be spreading to Mombasa and elsewhere. Human Rights Watch called on Kenya's government to speak out against the voices that incite hatred and foment the attacks. "The government is sitting silent while mobs try to kill human rights defenders and assault people they suspect are gay," said Dipika Nath, researcher in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) rights program at Human Rights Watch. "Inaction is complicity, and silence can be lethal."

In late January, 2010, unsubstantiated rumors about a "gay wedding" scheduled for February 12 started circulating in Mtwapa, in Kilifi District. Local and national radio stations picked up the unconfirmed story. On February 7, several imams and muftis (Islamic scholars) told their congregations during Friday prayers to be vigilant and to "expose" homosexuals in Mtwapa.

On February 11, Sheikh Ali Hussein of the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya and Bishop Lawrence Chai of the National Council of Churches of Kenya held a news conference. As reported by Daily Nation and by other witnesses who have spoken to Human Rights Watch, the two religious leaders demanded an investigation of the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), a government health center that provides HIV/AIDS services to the community. They criticized the government for "providing counselling services to these criminals" and demanded that the KEMRI office in Mtwapa be shut down, the reports said.

Local activists told Human Rights Watch that, in a statement after the meeting, the religious leaders promised to "flush out gays." The Daily Nation reported that Chai is the leader of a network called "Operation Gays Out," whose actual numbers and aims are not known.

On February 12, an armed mob of 200 to 300 people surrounded the KEMRI health center. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that a man called "Faridi," an organizer of the mob, said a KEMRI staff member was homosexual because he wore a T-shirt promoting safer sex. In response, police who were at the scene took him and another KEMRI staffer into custody. Earlier the same day, Faridi, with police, forcibly entered another private individual's home, claiming that the two people in the house were homosexual. Police took the two into custody, too. Local activists have informed Human Rights Watch that none of the men were charged and they have all since been released, and that the police were attempting to protect them from violence by taking them into custody.

The mob beat senseless another man who was approaching the health center and was about to set him on fire when the police arrived and took him into custody as well. A large crowd gathered outside the police station where the five were being held. A religious leader addressed the mob, saying all homosexuals should be driven out of Mtwapa, and another speaker encouraged the mob to not bother bringing homosexuals to the police but rather to take the law into its own hands, witnesses said. Other speakers said that homosexuals had appeared in Mtwapa when KEMRI opened its offices there. Smaller groups reportedly went to the homes of other people suspected of being gay and threatened them.

Local sources told Human Rights Watch that the mob attacks appeared planned rather than spontaneous. According to reports received by Human Rights Watch, none of the attackers have been arrested. Accounts of the attacks and arrests filled the front pages of the next day's local and national newspapers. A mob attacked and severely beat up another KEMRI volunteer on February 13, and the police again took the victim into custody. The same day, a person was beaten up in Mombasa on suspicion of being gay, and a second person was attacked in Mombasa on February 16. Local activists are attempting to determine the condition and whereabouts of those victims.

Sheikh Ali Hussein declared on the radio on February 17 that Muslims would march in Mtwapa on February 19 to protest against homosexuality. Local activists fear the demonstration may extend to mosques along the coast, including in Mombasa. "The police need to arrest the attackers and put a halt to what appears to be a coordinated nationwide attack on people perceived to be homosexual," Nath said. "The disruption of lifesaving HIV/AIDS work could mean a public health catastrophe as well as a human rights disaster."

The attacks and hate-mongering and the government's failure to act have spread fear in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, Human Rights Watch said. Several people have gone into hiding; others are preparing to flee their homes at a moment's notice. The attacks on the health center risk exacerbating the HIV/AIDS epidemic not only among men who have sex with men, but among all Kenyans. HIV prevalence in Kenya is more than 16 percent, and more than 1.5 million Kenyans have died from HIV/AIDS-related illness.

Vigilante violence and panic promote an atmosphere in which any discussion of sexuality will be silenced, and vulnerable populations driven underground, Human Rights Watch said. KEMRI's Mtwapa offices have been closed since the attacks. There are plans to reopen the center, but KEMRI staff remain nervous about further attacks. Although the declared reason for the six men's detention was to protect them, news reports said authorities asked the men to submit to forensic examinations to determine if they are homosexual. Five of them refused and the sixth consented and was examined, although no "evidence" of homosexuality is reported to have been found. Forensic medical examinations to "prove" homosexual conduct are archaic and discredited. If conducted without genuine consent, they may constitute torture or inhuman or degrading treatment, Human Rights Watch said.

Chapter V of the Constitution of Kenya guarantees to all Kenyans the rights to life, liberty, security of person, and privacy (articles 70, 71, and 72); articles 79, 80, and 81 protect individuals' freedom of expression, association and assembly, and movement. Article 82 protects against discrimination and states that "no law shall make any provision that is discriminatory either of itself or in its effect."

Section 162 of the Kenyan Penal Code punishes "carnal knowledge... against the order of nature" with up to 14 years in prison. This law is a relic of Kenya's colonial past, as Human Rights Watch has previously reported. British colonizers imposed laws to control social and sexual conduct, though some political and religious leaders now defend them as part of "authentic" culture and tradition.

The Penal Code's provisions contravene not only constitutional protections but international human rights standards. Article 2 of the African Charter on Human and People's Rights prohibits discrimination on all grounds; articles 3 and 19 secure for all the right to equality; articles 5 and 6 guarantee the right to dignity and liberty; and articles 10 and 11 guarantee freedom of association and assembly.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee, which authoritatively interprets the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and evaluates states' compliance with its provisions, found in the 1994 case of Toonen v. Australia that laws criminalizing consensual homosexual conduct among adults violate the ICCPR's protections for private life and against discrimination. Further, article 9 of the ICCPR secures for all the right to liberty, security, and rights against arbitrary detention, and article 7 of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders specifically secures the right to "develop and discuss new human rights ideas and principles and to advocate their acceptance."

The report of the special representative of the secretary-general on human rights defenders to the UN General Assembly specifically identifies human rights defenders from lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex communities as being at particular risk and calls for greater state vigilance in protecting their rights.

Source: Human Rights Watch

Kenya: Landmark Ruling on Indigenous Land Rights

A ruling by the African Commission on Human and People's Rights condemning the expulsion of the Endorois people from their land in Kenya is a major victory for indigenous peoples across Africa, Human Rights Watch, WITNESS, and the Endorois' lawyers said today. The Commission ruled on February 4, 2010 that the Endorois' eviction from their traditional land for tourism development violated their human rights.

The Kenyan government evicted the Endorois people, a traditional pastoralist community, from their homes at Lake Bogoria in central Kenya in the 1970s, to make way for a national reserve and tourist facilities. In the first ruling of an international tribunal to find a violation of the right to development, the Commission found that this eviction, with minimal compensation, violated the Endorois' right as an indigenous people to property, health, culture, religion, and natural resources. It ordered Kenya to restore the Endorois to their historic land and to compensate them. It is the first ruling to determine who are indigenous peoples in Africa, and what are their rights to land. The case was brought on behalf of the Endorois by CEMIRIDE and Minority Rights Group International.

"The Endorois decision, the first of its kind, can help many others across Africa who have been forced from their homes," said Clive Baldwin, senior legal adviser at Human Rights Watch, who was co-counsel for the Endorois in the case while employed with Minority Rights Group International. "The African Commission is clear: the land where the Endorois historically lived is their property and must be returned to them."

Lake Bogoria is considered to have great tourism potential due to its hot springs and abundant wildlife, including one of Africa's largest populations of flamingos. The African Commission accepted the Endorois' evidence that they have lived there since "time immemorial" and the lake was the center of their religion and culture, with their ancestors buried nearby. After being evicted from the fertile land around the lake, the Endorois were forced to congregate on arid land, where many of their cattle died.

They tried unsuccessfully to persuade the Kenyan government, the local authorities, and the Kenyan Wildlife Service to reverse their policy of evicting everyone, including traditional inhabitants, from areas the government designated national parks and reserves. They were also rebuffed when they sought an adequate share of the tourism and revenues generated by the reserve. After Kenyan courts refused to address their case, they brought their case to the African Commission in 2003. As a component of the case, WITNESS and CEMIRIDE collaborated on a landmark use of video as evidence, demonstrating how conditions on the ground breached articles of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, and bringing voices of the Endorois to the Commission.

Violations of land rights, including the rights of the generations of Kenyans displaced through historic and recent evictions, are one of the key unresolved issues in Kenya, which former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan acknowledged in the aftermath of Kenya's electoral violence in 2007-2008. The African Commission found that the Kenyan government has continued to rely on a colonial law that prevented certain communities from holding land outright, and allowed others, such as local authorities, effectively to own their traditional land on "trust" for these Communities. The local authority in Lake Bogoria was able to end the Endorois trust at will and to seize the land.

In the last decade there have been several attempts at comprehensive land reform that would allow for final and fair determination of land ownership and create a system to restore land to those unlawfully evicted or to compensate them. None of these reforms has been completed. While the adoption by the government of a new land policy in August 2009 marks a significant step forward, it still needs to be translated into effective protection on the ground for Kenya's most marginalized. "This ruling is good for every Kenyan," said Korir Singo'ei, who represented the Endorois while director of CEMIRIDE. "The law that treats some communities as children, unable to own their own land, is a colonial relic that needs to be changed."

The African Commission determined that the Endorois, having a clear historic attachment to particular land, are a distinct indigenous people, a term contested by some African governments who claimed all Africans are indigenous. It also found that the Endorois had property rights over the land they traditionally occupied and used, even though the British and Kenyan authorities had denied them a formal title. In finding a violation of the right to development for the first time the Commission relied on the failure of the Kenyan authorities to respect the right of the Endorois to consent to development, and the failure to provide them adequate compensation for the loss they had suffered, or any benefit from the tourism.

The African Commission had ruled in 2006 against the Kenyan government for allowing a ruby mining company to start illegal mining on another part of the Endorois' land, severely affecting their remaining access to water. Following that ruling, the mining company abandoned its activities. "The African Commission's ruling makes clear to governments that they must treat indigenous peoples as active stakeholders rather than passive beneficiaries," said Cynthia Morel, who was co-counsel for the Endorois as senior legal adviser with Minority Rights Groups International. "That recognition is a victory for all indigenous peoples across Africa whose existence was largely ignored - both in law and in fact - until today. The ruling spells the beginning of a brighter future."

The Commission requires Kenya to take steps to return the Endorois land and compensate them within three months. Comprehensive reform to bring Kenya's land laws to the standards set by the Commission is vital before the 2012 elections, Human Rights Watch, WITNESS, and the Endorois' lawyers said.

Source: Human Rights Watch

Informed citizens are empowered to participate

Last year, information came to light that the Kenyan parliament, one of the few in Africa that has complete control over its own budget, paid its members the equivalent of about $10 000 (R74 300) a month, of which only about 20 percent was taxable.This previously unknown fact was a revelation that caused a public outcry.

Selective release and use of information is often the veil behind which governments operate without public scrutiny.

One of the mechanisms for improving the right of access to information and citizen agency could be the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.Adopted by the African Union in January 2007, the charter has been hailed as a milestone in Africa's bid to promote and develop its governance systems.States have nominally committed themselves to promoting and strengthening their governance structures through citizen participation, transparency, accountability, rule of law, gender equality, decentralisation, human development, eradication of poverty and credible elections.

The charter is unique in that it was formulated and negotiated by African states and adopted by the AU. As such, the charter is a strong statement of the goals and prevailing aspirations of Africa. It is a statement in support of the principles that underpin democracy.However, two years after its adoption, only two countries have signed and ratified it. Even countries such as South Africa, which took a leading role in the formulation and adoption stages, have yet to affix their signature to the charter, let alone ratify it. Until it is ratified in 15 countries, this endeavour remains a statement of intention rather than a plan of action.

While it is important to acknowledge the progress that has been made by African countries in terms of developing democratic institutions, there remain significant challenges in improving the responsiveness of African institutions and in promoting a culture of democracy - one with an informed and engaged electorate.

A culture of democracy, as set out in the charter, speaks more to the way in which decisions are made, who makes them and why they make them. It speaks to a more systematic inclusion of citizens whose role in the democratic process is not limited to elections.

Using a simple checklist, most countries in Africa meet the outward appearance of a democratic state.All have parliaments in one form or another, judicial systems, elections, and a collection of institutions that are meant to safeguard human rights, ensure the protection of vulnerable and minority groups, combat corruption, etc. All of these are founded on constitutions that - some more than others - also guarantee the full range of basic human rights. Some have included access to information as a fundamental human right.While enacting legislation to promote access to information is taking place in several countries, Angola, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Uganda are the only countries that have done so.

But a culture of democracy should go beyond legislation and into practice. One such example is the judicial process in Ghana, where there is the formalised involvement of traditional leaders and lay magistrates in dispute resolution.These locally based mechanisms have made the judicial system more accessible to the people. Indeed, perhaps one of the more exciting ideas in democracy-building is the potential to harness traditional cultures, values and processes to enhance the culture of democracy and representative systems of governance.

It is widely acknowledged that democratic elections alone do not define a healthy democracy, nor do they guarantee that elected officials will be responsive to the needs of the people. As one member of parliament in Lesotho pointed out: "MPs want to go into politics because they are poor and hungry. And when they get into politics, they don't want to go back to their constituencies because the people there are poor and hungry."

One rather ominous omission from the charter is the lack of clarity with regard to whom government institutions should be accountable. Article 15.3 of the charter states that institutions should be "accountable to competent national organs". This essentially removes the core element of a democratic system, the citizen. That institutions are, in fact, accountable to the people should not be taken for granted, particularly where there may be several intermediaries between those institutions and the people they are intended to serve.

One attempt to bridge this gap between parliaments and citizens is the use of constituency offices. Various forms of these can be found on the continent. In many instances, however, these are linked to political parties rather than to parliament.This poses an obstacle to smaller parties, which may not have the financial means to sustain such offices in all constituencies.

In Zambia and Lesotho, the move is to link the offices directly to parliament, funded through the parliamentary budget, and to be used by the MPs representing that constituency, regardless of the party to which he or she belongs.That said, initiatives to improve engagement and access are all too rare, and the legal frameworks to promote public participation in decision-making is an area that needs further development.

Although many countries are making attempts to decentralise and promote the role of local government, this has yet to be fully realised.For instance, integrated development plans are used by South African municipalities for medium-term strategic planning and resource allocation, and are intended to be fully participatory. However, the public often lacks the information and thereby capacity to fully participate in the process of formulation.

A vital component of any healthy governance system is the right of access to information and being able to discuss this information in open and credible forums. This right enables citizens to claim other rights, like education and health. It allows them to monitor social programmes and expenditures, and enhances political discourse.

Culture being a way of life, a culture of democracy thrives among informed citizens. An informed citizenry will feel empowered not just about what the government can do for them, but also what they can do for themselves.

Coming back to the Kenyan story, in response to the public outcry over wages, the MPs decided to discuss the issue in a plenary session, behind closed doors.

Source: Polity

Africa: Neglect of AIDS Orphans Fuels School Drop-Out

Government neglect of millions of children affected by HIV/AIDS is fueling school drop-out across East and Southern Africa, Human Rights Watch charged in a new report released today. The region faces an unprecedented number of orphans, and governments must take urgent steps to keep these children in school and protect them from exploitation and other abuse.

The 55-page report, "Letting Them Fail: Government Neglect and the Right to Education for Children Affected by AIDS," is based on firsthand testimony from dozens of children in three countries hard-hit by HIV/AIDS: South Africa, Kenya, and Uganda. It documents how governments fail children affected by AIDS when they leave school or attempt to return. Churches and community-based organizations provide critical support to these children, but these groups frequently operate with little government support or recognition.

"AIDS-affected children are failing to go to school, and it's because their governments are failing them," said Jonathan Cohen, researcher with Human Rights Watch's HIV/AIDS Program. "These children have lost enough. They should not be turned away from school and lose their right to an education as well."

In sub-Saharan Africa, there are more than 12 million children orphaned by AIDS, not including the millions of children whose parents are terminally ill. While overall school enrollment rates have risen to approximately 66% in the continent, AIDS-affected children have been systematically left behind. Recent surveys from Kenya, South Africa, and Tanzania show that orphans are more likely to withdraw from school, less likely to be at an age-appropriate grade, and less likely to have limited family resources spent on their education.

The Human Rights Watch report documents how children suffer de facto discrimination in access to education from the moment HIV/AIDS afflicts their family. Children leave school to perform household labor or to bereave their parents' death. Many cannot afford school fees because their parents are too sick to earn a living. While some countries, such as Kenya and Uganda, have abolished primary school fees, schools repeatedly refuse admission to AIDS-affected children who cannot afford to pay for books, uniforms, and other school-related expenses.

Orphans and other AIDS-affected children said they had to leave school for reasons like failing to produce a birth certificate or failing to bring a desk to class. In many cases, they were being cared for by widows who had been stripped of their property when their husbands died of AIDS. In others, volunteers from community-based organizations resorted to pooling meager resources to provide orphans with basic necessities. Many orphans have eked out a living in the street or lived in households headed by other children.

"Governments bear the ultimate responsibility to protect children when their parents no longer can," said Cohen. "Community-based organizations and churches are desperately trying the fill the void left by governments."

Human Rights Watch called on governments in East and Southern Africa to bolster community-based organizations and foster care systems to address the crisis of AIDS-affected children. South Africa has a system of foster care, but it does not nearly meet the need in the era of HIV/AIDS. Kenya and Uganda rely almost entirely on charitable organizations to assist orphans. High rates of school drop-out are one of the most tangible results of this systematic government neglect, Human Rights Watch said.

Dropping out of school exposes orphans to a lifelong cycle of poverty and abuse. Children who drop out of school face a high risk of sexual exploitation, hazardous labor, and living in the street. Studies show that rates of HIV infection are higher among children with low levels of education.

"Some children are double victims of AIDS-first they lose their parents, and then they face a high risk of HIV infection after they drop out of school," said Cohen. "Governments must make education a priority to break this vicious cycle."

Source: Human Rights Watch

Insurgents Claiming Victory in Somalia

Rebels in Somalia said on Saturday night that they had won control of the capital, Mogadishu, and had forced President Mohamed Siad Barre to flee his palace. The rebels' assertions, monitored over radio about 600 miles to the southwest in Nairobi, were largely confirmed today by a team of French doctors who were treating the wounded in the Somali capital.

Stevan van Praet, a representative in Kenya of a French humanitarian agency, Doctors Without Borders, said his team told him this morning by radio telephone that Mr. Siad Barre had fled the presidential palace in a tank 15 minutes before it was seized. Mr. van Praet said he had no information about the whereabouts of the President, who has held autocratic power in the eastern African nation for 21 years. Looting of Palace Mr. van Praet said his doctors had reported that civilians and rebels had looted the palace, known as Villa Somalia, after the President's escape.

One unconfirmed report in Nairobi said Mr. Siad Barre had fled to his well-fortified bunker at the Mogadishu airport, which the French doctors said was controlled by loyal troops. Another unconfirmed report suggested that the President had fled south toward the Kenyan border. In the broadcast, the United Somali Congress said: "The Government and the responsibility of the Somali people were taken over by the U.S.C. movement. We are addressing you from Radio Mogadishu, the voice of the Somali people."

The United Somali Congress is one of three clan-based insurgent groups that have been trying to oust Mr. Siad Barre, who during the cold war received weapons from the Soviet Union and then the United States. In the last two years, under pressure from Congress, Washington cut off military aid over human rights abuses by the Somali Government.

The French doctors, who are accompanied by an English ecologist and pilot, Murray Watson, are the only independent contact between Mogadishu and the outside world. Soon after intense fighting and looting started at the end of last month, all foreign embassies were evacuated. Two weeks ago, diplomats from Italy, the former colonial power in Somalia, were the last to leave. In a radio conversation this morning with the British Broadcasting Corporation, Mr. Watson graphically described the scene in the whitewashed, palm-fringed city on the Indian Ocean. "There are not so many bodies," on the street, Mr. Watson said, "because dogs have eaten most of them." "There are hands sticking up through the sand," he said in an apparent description of bodies still strewn on the beach. He said that in the last few days, the doctors had received about 60 severely wounded civilians and were performing "10 to 15 amputations a day." Mr. Watson told the BBC that shells fired from the area of the presidential palace were "going out 5 to 10 kilometers" and landing in civilian areas.

Last week, Mr. Siad Barre appointed a new Prime Minister, Umar Arteh Ghalib, a nationally known figure from the northern-based Isaaq clan, which has also been fighting the Government. The President also offered to step down if the rebels accepted a truce, but the deal was rejected. A stream of refugees has been pouring out of Somalia into both Ethiopia and Kenya, some of them highly placed military and political figures. With considerable rivalry between the clan-based insurgents, it seemed doubtful that the United Somali Congress would be able to restore stability to the country, both Somalis and Western analysts said. Many predicted that there would be persistent factional fighting.

Coveted by the superpowers during the cold war because of its strategic position on the Gulf of Aden and close to the Middle East, Somalia is a largely rural, Muslim country of six million people. The United States had an access agreement with the Siad Barre Government for use of the port at Berbera, but the internal situation had become so unstable that the port was not used during the build up for the Persian Gulf war.

Source: New York Times

Kenya Reports Attack by Somalia

Kenya said today that 3,000 regular Somali troops had made a surprise attack on one of its border zone police posts and 13 men had been killed in the fighting.

Source: New York Times