AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL KENYA CALLS FOR RESPECT FOR AND PROTECTION OF LGBTIQ+ GROUPS IN KENYA

By Benta Moige

GHANA MP SAM GEORGE PARTICIPATION IN AFRICA LAW TECH CONFERENCE 2023

The reinvigoration of Kenya’s refugee system offers new possibilities for all those fleeing persecution. A new report reminds the government, UNHCR and development partners it is vital humanitarian services must not leave any asylum seeker behind.

This joint report by the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (NGLHRC) and Amnesty International documents the extremely dangerous situation of hate crimes, discrimination and other human rights violations suffered by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) asylum seekers and refugees in Kenya, specifically those living in Kakuma refugee camp, between 2018 and February 2023.

After a week of intense public debate triggered by the Supreme Court right to association ruling, the President has finally spoken. Hopefully, his International Women’s Day comment has calmed the most vociferous of voices and clarified anxiety in several quarters that the ruling may have paved way for marriage equality in Kenya.

2nd March

Gay rights activist Edwin Chiloba has been brutally murdered. Our opinions will filter his death as a hate-crime, grim murder or another example of a state that failed to protect its own citizens.

The world is midway through the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. The recent conviction of Moses Gatama Njoroge provides the clearest example of why the annual awareness campaign is so important.

My preferred name is Lucretia but I was legally named Ssenyonjo John, a transgender female from Uganda. I liked the name, Lucretia. When I recognized there is someone special within my body who is not John, I decided to name her that. I, therefore, feel bittersweet, special, and unique when someone calls me by that name. No one gave it to me; I gave it to myself.

On January 24, 2019, the Supreme Court in a 4-1 majority decision, quashed a Court of Appeal decision that had found it discriminatory for church-sponsored schools to bar Muslim students from wearing the hijab and white trousers. This means, as it stands right now, schools have the prerogative to determine what students can or cannot wear as uniform, regardless of religious affiliation.