ELECTIVE: INTERNATIONAL HEALTH

INTERNATIONAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

INTRODUCTION The protection of basic human rights is one of the most pressing and yet most elusive goals of the international community. Before World War II, international law protecting human rights was sparse. States limited International legal obligations to declarations of intent and to a small number of treaties and conventions. Adoption of the 1945 UNcharter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights three years later, how-ever, provided a window of opportunity for states, international organizations, and civil society actors and organizations to place human rights on the international legal agenda.Today, these efforts have culminated in the creation and expansion of a worldwide system of international law designed to identify and protect a growing number of basic human rights.

Rights are Entitlements/claims

Human rights-Inalienable and inherent entitlements/claims that are intrinsically/ innately connected to being human (belong to every human being by virtue of being human

They are universal and are based on inherent dignity, worth, respect and nobility of the human person (Ngondi, 2005)

Background

The Charter of the United Nations established six principal bodies, including the General Assembly, the Security Council, the International Court of Justice, and in relation to human rights, an Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

The UN Charter empowered ECOSOC to establish “commissions in economic and social fields and for the promotion of human rights….” One of these was the United Nations Human Rights Commission, which, under thechairmanship of Eleanor Roosevelt, saw to the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Declaration was drafted by representatives of all regions of the world and encompassed all legal traditions. Formally adopted by the United Nations on December 10, 1948, it is the most universal human

rights document in existence, delineating the thirty fundamental rights that form the basis for a democratic society.

Following this historic act, the Assembly called upon all Member Countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and “to cause it tobe disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories.”

Today, the Declaration is a living document that has been accepted as a contract between a government and its people throughout the world. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, it is the most translated document in the world.Universal declaration of HR is the constitution of the entire human rights.(Ngondi, 2005)

After WW 11, 50 countries led by US, GB, USSR and their allies met inSan Francisco and reflected on the aftermath of the war.

There was a felt need to fashion an international body to promotepeace and prevent future wars.

The UN came into being as an intergovernmental organization (24/10/1945)

Purpose-save future generations from the devastation of international conflict

Had a charter that established six principal bodies

1. General assembly

2. Security Council

3. International Criminal Court

4. Human Rights

5. Economic and 6. Social Council

6. ECOSOC- empowered to establish a commission on economic and social fields and promotion of HR.

7. As a result, the United Nations on Human Rights Commission was formed under the Chairmanship of Eleanor Roosevelt.

UNHRC drafted and Created the Universal Declaration of HR in 1948 (Reps from all over the regions of the world

Human Rights Defined

What are your human rights?

Let’s start with some basic human rights definitions:

Human: nounA member of the Homo sapiens species; a man, woman or child; a person.

Rights: nounThings to which you are entitled or allowed; freedoms that are guaranteed.

Human Rights: nounThe rights you have simply because you are human.

If you were to ask people in the street, “What are human rights?” you would get many different answers. They would tell you the rights they know about, but very few people know all their rights.

As covered in the definitions above, a right is a freedom of some kind. It is something to which you are entitled by virtue of being human.

Human rights are based on the principle of respect for the individual.Their fundamental assumption is that each person is a moral and rational being who deserves to be treated with dignity. They are called human rights because they are universal. Whereas nations or specialized groups enjoy specific rights that apply only to them, human rights are the rights to which everyone is entitled—no matter who they are or where they live—simply because they are alive.

Yet many people, when asked to name their rights, will list only freedom of speech and belief and perhaps one or two others. There is no question these are important rights, but the full scope of human rights is very broad. They mean choice and opportunity. They mean the freedom to obtain a job, adopt a career, select a partner of one’s choice and raise children. They include the right to travel widely andthe right to work gainfully without harassment, abuse and threat of arbitrary dismissal. They even embrace the right to leisure.

In ages past, there were no human rights. Then the idea emerged that people should have certain freedoms. And that idea, in the wake of World War II, resulted finally in the document called the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the thirty rights to which all people are entitled.

In 539 B.C., the armies of Cyrus the Great, the first king of ancient Persia, conquered the city of Babylon. But it was his next actions that marked a major advance for Man. He freed the slaves, declared that all people had the right to choose their own religion, and established racial equality. These and other decrees were recorded on a baked-clay cylinder in the Akkadian language with cuneiform script.

Known today as the Cyrus Cylinder, this ancient record has now been recognized as the world’s first charter of human rights. It is translated into all six official languages of the United Nations and its provisions parallel the first four Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Spread of Human Rights

From Babylon, the idea of human rights spread quickly to India, Greeceand eventually Rome. There the concept of “natural law” arose, in observation of the fact that people tended to follow certain unwrittenlaws in the course of life, and Roman law was based on rational ideas derived from the nature of things.

Documents asserting individual rights, such as the Magna Carta (1215),the Petition of Right (1628), the US Constitution (1787), the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789), and the USBill of Rights (1791) are the written precursors to many of today’s human rights documents.

The Magna Carta, or “Great Charter,” was arguably the most significantearly influence on the extensive historical process that led to the rule of constitutional law today in the English-speaking world.

In 1215, after King John of England violated a number of ancient laws and customs by which England had been governed, his subjects forced him to sign the Magna Carta, which enumerates what later came to be thought of as human rights. Among them was the right of the church to

be free from governmental interference, the rights of all free citizens to own and inherit property and to be protected from excessive taxes. It established the right of widows who owned propertyto choose not to remarry, and established principles of due process and equality before the law. It also contained provisions forbidding bribery and official misconduct.

Widely viewed as one of the most important legal documents in the development of modern democracy, the Magna Carta was a crucial turningpoint in the struggle to establish freedom.

Petition of Right (1628)

In 1628 the English Parliament sent this statement of civil liberties to King Charles I.

In 1628 the English Parliament sent this statement of civil liberties to King Charles I.

The next recorded milestone in the development of human rights was thePetition of Right, produced in 1628 by the English Parliament and sentto Charles I as a statement of civil liberties. Refusal by Parliament to finance the king’s unpopular foreign policy had caused his government to exact forced loans and to quarter troops in subjects’ houses as an economy measure. Arbitrary arrest and imprisonment for opposing these policies had produced in Parliament a violent hostilityto Charles and to George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham. The Petition of Right, initiated by Sir Edward Coke, was based upon earlier statutes and charters and asserted four principles: (1) No taxes may be levied without consent of Parliament, (2) No subject may be imprisoned without cause shown (reaffirmation of the right of habeas corpus), (3) No soldiers may be quartered upon the citizenry, and (4) Martial law may not be used in time of peace.

The First Geneva Convention (1864)

The original document from the first Geneva Convention in 1864 provided for care to wounded soldiers.

The original document from the first Geneva Convention in 1864 provided for care to wounded soldiers.

In 1864, sixteen European countries and several American states attended a conference in Geneva, at the invitation of the Swiss Federal Council, on the initiative of the Geneva Committee. The diplomatic conference was held for the purpose of adopting a convention for the treatment of wounded soldiers in combat.

The main principles laid down in the Convention and maintained by the later Geneva Conventions provided for the obligation to extend care without discrimination to wounded and sick military personnel and respect for and marking of medical personnel transports and equipment with the distinctive sign of the red cross on a white background.

World War II had raged from 1939 to 1945, and as the end drew near, cities throughout Europe and Asia lay in smoldering ruins. Millions ofpeople were dead, millions more were homeless or starving. Russian forces were closing in on the remnants of German resistance in Germany’s bombed-out capital of Berlin. In the Pacific, US Marines were still battling entrenched Japanese forces on such islands as Okinawa.

In April 1945, delegates from fifty countries met in San Francisco full of optimism and hope. The goal of the United Nations Conference on International Organization was to fashion an international body to promote peace and prevent future wars. The ideals of the organization were stated in the preamble to its proposed charter: “We the peoples of the United Nations are determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind.”

The Charter of the new United Nations organization went into effect onOctober 24, 1945, a date that is celebrated each year as United Nations Day.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights has inspired a number of other human rights laws and treaties throughout the world.By 1948, the United Nations’ new Human Rights Commission had captured the world’s attention. Under the dynamic chairmanship of Eleanor Roosevelt—President Franklin Roosevelt’s widow, a human rights champion in her own right and the United States delegate to the UN—theCommission set out to draft the document that became the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Roosevelt, credited with its inspiration,

referred to the Declaration as the international Magna Carta for all mankind. It was adopted by the United Nations on December 10, 1948.

In its preamble and in Article 1, the Declaration unequivocally proclaims the inherent rights of all human beings: “Disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in whichhuman beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom fromfear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people...All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”

The Member States of the United Nations pledged to work together to promote the thirty Articles of human rights that, for the first time in history, had been assembled and codified into a single document. Inconsequence, many of these rights, in various forms, are today part ofthe constitutional laws of democratic nations.

THE DECLARATION

“The general assembly proclaims this universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for people and all nations to the end that every individual and every organ of the society ,keeping this declaration consistently in mind, shallstrive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measure, national and international, secure their universal and effective recognition and observance both among the peoples of the member states themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction”

Declaration proclaimed by the UN General assembly in Paris on 10/12/1948 through general resolution 217A (111) as a common standard for all peoples and all nations

Set out fundamental/ Inherent HR to be universally protected

Three principles were to form the basis for a democratic society-Freedom, Justice, Peace in the world

HR are categorized in Civil, Political and Economic,Social and Cultural Rights

CIVIL AND POLITICAL HR

ART 2 Right to equality

Art 3 Right to life, Liberty and security

Art 4 Right to freedom from slavery and servitude

Art 5 Rights of arrested, detained, accused and convicted people

Art 6 Right to recognition everywhere

Art 7 Right to protection by the law

ART 1 Right to freedom

Art 8 :Right to effective remedy by national competent tribunal for acts violating fundamental rights granted by the constitutionor by law

Art 9: Prohibits arbitrary arrest, detention/exile

Art 10: Right to a fair public hearing by an in depended impartial tribunal (Justice)

Art 11 :Right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty throughpublic trial (Penal offence)

Art 12: Right to privacy, family, home or correspondence

Art 13: Freedom of movement and residence within state borders, freedom to leave ones country/return

ART 14: Right to seek and enjoy asylum from persecution in other countries

Art 15: Right to nationality/ Right to change nationality

Art 16: Right to marry and start a family on attainment of full age. Intending spouses to give free and full consent for marriage

Art 17: Right to own property alone or in association with others

Art 18: Right to freedom of thought, Conscience, religion/ changereligion

Art 19: Right to information, opinion and expression

Art 21: Right to participate in public affairs and the right to access public service in ones country

Art 22: Right to social security

Art 23: Right to work-free choice of employment, favorable remuneration favorable work conditions, freedom to belong to trade unions, protection from unemployment

Art 24: Right to rest, leisure and reasonable working hrs, periodic paid holiday

Art 27: Freedom to participate in cultural life of the community,protection of moral and material interest from scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author

Art 18: Right to a social and international order in which rightsand freedoms set forth in the declaration can be achieved

Art 29: Everyone has duties to the community which shapes his/herpersonality, obligation to respect the rights and freedom of others, meet the just requirements of morality, public order andgeneral welfare in a democratic society

Art 30:Declaration should not be interpreted as implying for any state, group or person any right to engage in any activity or perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights andfreedoms set forth therein

International mechanisms for the promotion and protection of HR

Charter bodies-Take action by majority voting eg Commission on HR (CHR)

Treaty bodies –Monitor implementation of core treaties (HRC, CESR,CERD)

Extra-conventional mechanisms of commission of HR (Investigate , discuss and report on specific HR issues under a country or thematic mandate ( KHRC)

Other UN bodies- UN general assembly

EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights served as the inspiration for the European Convention on Human Rights, one of the most significant agreements in the European Community. The Convention was adopted in 1953 by the Council of Europe, an intergovernmental organization established in 1949 and composed of forty-seven European Community Member States. This body was formed to strengthen human rights and promote democracy and the rule of law.

The Convention is enforced by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. Any person claiming to be the victim of a violation in one of the forty-seven countries in the European Community which has signed and ratified the Convention, may seek relief with the European Court. One must first have exhausted all recourse in the courts of their home country and have filed an application for relief with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

HUMAN RIGHTS INSTRUMENTS FOR THE AMERICAS, AFRICA AND ASIA

In North and South America, Africa and Asia, regional documents for the protection and promotion of human rights extend the International Bill of Human Rights.

The American Convention on Human Rights pertains to the inter-Americanstates—the Americas—and was entered into force in 1978.

African states have created their own Charter of Human and People’s Rights (1981), and Muslim states have created the Cairo Declaration onHuman Rights in Islam (1990).

The Asian Human Rights Charter (1986) was created by the Asian Human Rights Commission, founded that year by a group of jurists and human rights activists in Hong Kong. The Charter is described as a “people’scharter,” because no governmental charter has been issued to date.

DIGNITY & JUSTICEDignity and justice for each and every human being is the promise of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The concept of dignity liesat the heart of human rights. It is mentioned in the first sentence ofthe Preamble to the Declaration and appears again in Article 1. Yet ofall the rights to which everyone is entitled, dignity is perhaps the

most difficult to express and to put into a tangible form. Put simply,it means we must treat each other with respect, tolerance and understanding. Governments must do the same, in law as well as in practice, for the individuals who make up communities, societies and nations. The idea of justice and the equality of everyone before the law, appears throughout the Declaration. In fact the Declaration's core values of non-discrimination and equality are ultimately a commitment to universal justice and recognition of inherent human dignity.

DEVELOPMENT Poverty is a key factor that undercuts the realisation of the full potential of the human being and societies. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides a vision of the world in which everyone -- regardless of who they are and where they live -- has equal opportunity to grow and develop in freedom and equality and to the fullness of their potential. It also makes clear our responsibility tohelp other people and nations, through individual and joint actions, and to create a social and international order that enables the enjoyment of all human rights - civil, cultural, economic, political and social. So, in 2000 world leaders committed themselves to making 'the right to development a reality' and achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 in order to bring a better life to the poverty-affected people of the world. This global agreement acknowledges that individuals and societies can only develop fully through concerted national and international efforts.

ENVIRONMENTThe environment is never specifically mentioned in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, yet if you deliberately dump toxic waste in someone's community or disproportionately exploit their natural resources without adequate consultation and compensation, clearly you are abusing their rights. Over the past 60 years, as our recognition of environmental degradation has grown so has our understanding that changes in the environment can have a significant impact on our ability to enjoy our human rights. In no other area is it so clear that the actions of nations, communities, businesses and individuals can so dramatically affect the rights of others - because damaging theenvironment can damage the rights of people, near and far, to a secureand healthy life.

CULTURE The concept of human rights is bound closely to the belief that

culture is precious and central to our identity. The way we are born, live and die is affected by the culture to which we belong, so to takeaway our cultural heritage is to deny us our identity. At the same time, we can all benefit from our experience of other cultures and we have something to offer them in return. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights says “everyone has the right freely to participate in thecultural life of the community” and by implication, this also means that no-one has the right to dominate, direct or eradicate that culture or impose theirs upon us.

GENDER At conception we all start life as equals, but at birth we are immediately treated differently based on whether we are a boy or a girl. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights acknowledges that men and women are not the same but insists on their right to be equal before the law and treated without discrimination. Gender equality is not a ‘women's issue' but refers to the equal rights, responsibilitiesand opportunities of women and men, girls and boys, and should concernand fully engage men as well as women. However, after 60 years, it is clear that it is the human rights of women that we see most widely ignored around the world, from female infanticide, sexual slavery and rape as an act of war, to exclusion from education, health and the right to compete equally for jobs. The right to be free of discrimination on the grounds of sex is specifically embodied in Article 2 of the declaration, but even a cursory reading of all 30 Articles is enough to remind us that in much of the world, the Declaration has yet to fulfill its promise to women.

PARTICIPATION Wherever we live and in whatever sort of society, one of our basic rights is to be allowed to take a full part in the life of our community. Without participation we cannot experience and enjoy the wide range of rights and freedoms that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights seeks to guarantee. Our participation should be active, free and meaningful. Our views to improve our lives and our community should be heard and answered. We can have a say in the decisions of our local community and in national affairs. Article 21 explicitly says everyone has the right to take part in elections and government. Crucially, participation also means that the voices of people who are often excluded should be heard and heeded, especially when we are marginalised or discriminated against because of our disability, race,religion, gender, descent, age or on other grounds. We should be in a

position to influence our own destiny and take part in decisions affecting us.

Human Rights Violations

Human rights advocates agree that, sixty years after its issue, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is still more a dream than reality. Violations exist in every part of the world. For example, Amnesty International’s 2009 World Report and other sources show that individuals are:

Tortured or abused in at least 81 countries Face unfair trials in at least 54 countries Restricted in their freedom of expression in at least 77

countries

Not only that, but women and children in particular are marginalized in numerous ways, the press is not free in many countries, and dissenters are silenced, too often permanently. While some gains have been made over the course of the last six decades, human rights violations still plague the world today.

To help inform you of the true situation throughout the world, this section provides examples of violations of six Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR):

ARTICLE 3 — THE RIGHT TO LIVE FREE

“Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.”

An estimated 6,500 people were killed in 2007 in armed conflict in Afghanistan—nearly half being noncombatant civilian deaths at the hands of insurgents. Hundreds of civilians were also killed in suicideattacks by armed groups.

In Brazil in 2007, according to official figures, police killed at least 1,260 individuals—the highest total to date. All incidents were officially labeled “acts of resistance” and received little or no investigation.

In Uganda, 1,500 people die each week in the internally displaced person camps. According to the World Health Organization, 500,000 havedied in these camps.

Vietnamese authorities forced at least 75,000 drug addicts and prostitutes into 71 overpopulated “rehab” camps, labeling the detainees at “high risk” of contracting HIV/AIDS but providing no treatment.

“No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.”

In northern Uganda, the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) guerrillas have kidnapped 20,000 children over the past twenty years and forced them into service as soldiers or sexual slaves for the army.

In Guinea-Bissau, children as young as five are trafficked out of the country to work in cotton fields in southern Senegal or as beggars in the capital city. In Ghana, children five to fourteen are tricked withfalse promises of education and future into dangerous, unpaid jobs in the fishing industry.

In Asia, Japan is the major destination country for trafficked women, especially women coming from the Philippines and Thailand. UNICEF estimates 60,000 child prostitutes in the Philippines.

The US State Department estimates 600,000 to 820,000 men, women and children are trafficked across international borders each year, half of whom are minors, including record numbers of women and girls fleeing from Iraq. In nearly all countries, including Canada, the US and the UK, deportation or harassment are the usual governmental responses, with no assistance services for the victims.

In the Dominican Republic, the operations of a trafficking ring led tothe death by asphyxiation of 25 Haitian migrant workers. In 2007, two civilians and two military officers received lenient prison sentences for their part in the operation.

In Somalia in 2007, more than 1,400 displaced Somalis and Ethiopian nationals died at sea in trafficking operations.

ARTICLE 5 — NO TORTURE

“No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

In 2008, US authorities continued to hold 270 prisoners in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, without charge or trial, subjecting them to “water-boarding,” torture that simulates drowning. Former-President George W.Bush authorized the CIA to continue secret detention and interrogation, despite its violation of international law.

In Darfur, violence, atrocities and abduction are rampant and outside aid all but cut off. Women in particular are the victims of unrestrained assault, with more than 200 rapes in the vicinity of a displaced persons camp in one five-week period, with no effort by authorities to punish the perpetrators.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, acts of torture and ill treatment are routinely committed by government security services and armed groups, including sustained beatings, stabbings and rapes of those in custody. Detainees are held incommunicado, sometimes in secret detention sites. In 2007, the Republican Guard (presidential guard) and Special Services police division in Kinshasa arbitrarily detained and tortured numerous individuals labeled as critics of the government.

ARTICLE 13 — FREEDOM TO MOVE

“1. Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence withinthe borders of each State.

“2. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.”

In Myanmar, thousands of citizens were detained, including 700 prisoners of conscience, most notably Nobel Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. In retaliation for her political activities, she has been imprisoned or under house arrest for twelve of the last eighteen years, and has refused government offers of release that would requireher to leave the country.

In Algeria, refugees and asylum-seekers were frequent victims of detention, expulsion or ill treatment. Twenty-eight individuals from sub-Saharan African countries with official refugee status from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) were deported toMali after being falsely tried, without legal counsel or interpreters,on charges of entering Algeria illegally. They were dumped near a

desert town where a Malian armed group was active, without food, wateror medical aid.

In Kenya, authorities violated international refugee law when they closed the border to thousands of people fleeing armed conflict in Somalia. Asylum-seekers were illegally detained at the Kenyan border without charge or trial and forcibly returned to Somalia.

In northern Uganda, 1.6 million citizens remained in displacement camps. In the Acholi subregion, the area most affected by armed conflict, 63 percent of the 1.1 million people displaced in 2005 were still living in camps in 2007, with only 7,000 returned permanently totheir places of origin.

ARTICLE 18 — FREEDOM OF THOUGHT

“Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”

In Myanmar, the military junta crushed peaceful demonstrations led by monks, raided and closed monasteries, confiscated and destroyed property, shot, beat and detained protesters, and harassed or held hostage the friends and family members of the protesters.

In China, Falun Gong practitioners were singled out for torture and other abuses while in detention. Christians were persecuted for practicing their religion outside state-sanctioned channels.

In Kazakhstan, local authorities in a community near Almaty authorizedthe destruction of twelve homes, all belonging to Hare Krishna members, falsely charging that the land on which the homes were built had been illegally acquired. Only homes belonging to members of the Hare Krishna community were destroyed.

ARTICLE 21 — RIGHT TO DEMOCRACY

“1. Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

“2. Everyone has the right to equal access to public service in his country.

“3. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.”

In Zimbabwe, hundreds of human rights defenders and members of the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), were arrested for participating in peaceful gatherings.

In Pakistan, thousands of lawyers, journalists, human rights defendersand political activists were arrested for demanding democracy, the rule of law and an independent judiciary.

In Cuba, at the end of 2007, sixty two prisoners of conscience remained incarcerated for their nonviolent political views or activities.

Claiming Human Rights - in Kenya

The Republic of Kenya is a member of the United Nations and the African Union. It has ratified many UN Human Rights Conventions (compare list on the right) and thus has made binding international commitments to adhere to the standards laid down in these universal human rights documents.

Kenya is a Swahili- and English-speaking country in East Africa. Bordering the Indian Ocean, the country has an area of 580,367 square km. On a global scale, its population density is medium. The capital of the country, which became independent on 12 December 1963 from the United Kingdom, is Nairobi. Kenya is a member of the regional economiccommunities EAC, IGAD, CEN-SAD and COMESA.

With a Human Development Index of 0.54 Kenya ranks 147th of 182 countries ranked in the UNDP Human Development Report of 2009. Life expectancy of the 38.5 million inhabitants at birth is 48 years, population growth is 2.6 percent per year. GNI is 770 US-$ per capita.External debt is 30.3 percent of gross national income. Primary schoolenrolment is 86.3 percent.

In as far as Kenya has ratified the Optional Protocols for UN Human Rights Conventions or has accepted the Competence of the correspondingUN Treaty Bodies (compare list on the right), the inhabitants of Kenyaand their representatives are able to invoke their human rights through these bodies.

All inhabitants of Kenya may turn to the UN Human Rights Committee through procedure 1503, to the Special Rapporteurs for violations of specific human rights or to ECOSOC for women's rights violations.

Since Kenya is a member state of UNESCO, its citizens may use the UNESCO procedure for human rights violations in UNESCO's fields of mandate.

Employers' or workers' and certain other organizations (not individuals) of Egypt may file complaints through the ILO procedure inthe cases of those conventions which Kenya has ratified.

Since Kenya is an AU member, its citizens and NGOs may file complaintsto the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

They may also file complaints according to the EU guidelines (on HumanRights Defenders, Death Penalty and Torture) to Embassies of EU MemberStates and the Delegations of the European Commission.

In cases of human rights violations by multinational enterprises, theymay also invoke the National Contact Point in an OECD member state.

Kenya has joined the International Criminal Court, it may thus be called upon in case of severe crimes.

SUMMARY

Human rights exist, as embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the entire body of international human rights law. They arerecognized—at least in principle—by most nations and form the heart ofmany national constitutions. Yet the actual situation in the world is far distant from the ideals envisioned in the Declaration.

To some, the full realization of human rights is a remote and unattainable goal. Even international human rights laws are difficult to enforce and pursuing a complaint can take years and a great deal ofmoney. These international laws serve as a restraining function but are insufficient to provide adequate human rights protection, as evidenced by the stark reality of abuses perpetrated daily.

Discrimination is rampant throughout the world. Thousands are in prison for speaking their minds. Torture and politically motivated imprisonment, often without trial, are commonplace, condoned and practiced—even in some democratic countries.

Kenya’s Record in the International Development of Human Rights Ratification Kenya has ratified most of the core international human rights instruments. There are however some important ones that it has not ratified for many years including: the 1st-Optional protocol to ICCPR on the right of individuals to bring complaints; 2nd protocol to ICCPR on the abolition of the death penalty; Convention relating to status of refugees; Protocol on Rights of Women in Africa; 1948 Convention onthe Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide among others.

Reporting Kenya’s reporting record has been very poor over the years, putting the country in a continuous state of international delinquency. Some reports that have been due for many years on core human rights treaties have not been submitted. These include reports on: ICESR due in 2000; ICRC due 1997; CAT last one due1998; CERD no report ever made; ACHR last report due 2004- no report ever submitted. The quality of submitted reports has been wanting, with a characteristic lack of detail and illustration of the exact situationon each right. Core challenges to reporting include lack of politicalwill; lack of records and availability of information from governmentdepartments; and lack of clarity of the office on which reporting responsibility lies. This however has been rectified with the responsibility resting on MoJCA.

Domestication

Kenya has adopted the domestication technique of legislative incorporation. The trend of domestication of human rights treaties by the Kenyan government has been slow, minimal, and unimpressive with most treaties domesticated in bits and pieces through disparate legislative provisions

The law in Kenya is therefore extremely lagging behind advancements inthe field of human rights. The only sufficiently domesticated instrument is the ICRC with the enactment of the Children’s Act (no.8 of 2001). ICCPR is also domesticated to a reasonable degree with a good number of its provisions especially those related to personal freedoms incorporated in the Bill of Right of the current constitution.

This is however insufficient and incomplete as it grants the state toomuch room to apply its power to take away right. The Draft Constitution, in its provisions more effectively domesticates the treaty. The ICESCR and CEDAW have no domesticating legislation. Elements of ICESCR have been domesticated in some labour laws. Elements of CEDAW have been domesticated in the anti discrimination provisions of current constitution, but are extremely watered down by exceptions as to amount to no domestication at all. Challenges to domestication include lack of political will; ignorance of parliamentarians; external pressure; lack of mechanism for initiation of domestication upon ratification; and general slow pace of law reform and development.

Core Recommendations •Expedite Law and institutional reform initiatives under GJLOs •Implement Recommendations of the Relevant Task Forces related to legal and policy reforms discussed in the report •Reform the Budgeting Process to be more inclusive to the final stages; to tally budget items to final expenditures; reduce recurrent expenditure; and to give priority to human rights goals •Embark on a concerted inclusive public human rights education process•Support the capacity of the KNCHR, and the KNCGD •Implement already existing progressive policies discussed in the report •Enforce strict measures to curb wastage, corruption and mismanagement•Diversify financing sources so that programs do not stall when donorsdo

•Develop and enforce adequate standards in service delivery by state agents and agencies •Build capacity for and develop co-ordinated and organised systems of participation in development ofinternational human rights law; ratification; domestication and reporting on international instrument •Ratified core outstanding instruments •Domesticate the core instrument (Draft constitution will do most of this) •Develop a comprehensive Monitoring and Evaluation System for State fulfilment of it duty under Human Rights in Kenya.(proposed NAP set todo this

References

Glendon, Mary Ann (2002). A world made new: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Random House.

Hashmi, Sohail H. (2002). Islamic political ethics: civil society, pluralism, and conflict. Princeton University Press.

Morsink, Johannes (1999). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: origins, drafting, and intent. University of Pennsylvania Press.

Ngondi(2005), Kenya’s Record in the International Development of HumanRights