2 July 2024, Amnesty International Kenya calls on the National Police Service (NPS) and the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) to uphold their constitutional obligations to protect and facilitate peaceful protestors during the #OccupyEverywhere protests scheduled for 2 July 2024 across the country.
1 July 2024: Six national associations of content creators, journalists, lawyers, medical practitioners, and human rights defenders issue this statement to pronounce our stand on the current state of human rights in the country, clarify our position on the call for policy dialogue, and suggest what we think is the way out of Kenya’s current crisis.
This week’s deployment had me frantically searching online for international human rights and humanitarian standards to understand the unprecedented situation of the Kenya Defense Forces being invited to police the right to assembly. Now that Justice Lawrence Mugambi has declared Article 241(b) was properly invoked to protect life and property, what standards must the Inspector General, Chief of the Defence Forces, and the President uphold?
Nairobi, 27 June 2024: Amnesty International Kenya and the Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ Kenya) have released this statement to remind the Kenya Defence Forces and the National Police Service that the laws of Kenya have not been suspended and that Kenya is not in a state of emergency.
Nairobi, 25 June 2024: Despite the assurance by the Government that the right to assembly would be protected and facilitated, today’s protests have spiralled into violence. Human rights observers and medical officers have reported several incidents of human rights violations.
Nairobi, 25th June 2024. The Police Reforms Working Group Kenya (PRWG-K) unequivocally condemns the recent wave of abductions of citizens suspected of involvement in the #RejectFinanceBill2024 protests. These 12 abductions, which occurred over the last five days and intensified last night, are a gross violation of human rights and amount to arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearance as prohibited under Article 29 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010.
24 June 2024: Twenty-seven international organisations and Kenyan associations of content creators, lawyers, medical officers and human rights defenders express deep concerns about the potential of possible internet and mass media disruptions during this week’s demonstrations to #RejectFinanceBill2024.
After a week of intense protests against one of the most controversial taxation bills of Kenya’s independence, the people and public authorities have to wonder what will happen next. Widely understood as a rejection of the 2024 Taxation Bill, the tensions unmask a systemic problem with public participation, policymaking, and policing.
22 June 2024. 12:30: Twenty-five human rights associations of content creators, lawyers, medical officers and human rights defenders across the country have called on the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to clarify the whereabouts of content creator Billy Simani, also known as “Crazy Nairobian”. The agencies include the Bloggers Association of Kenya, The Law Society of Kenya, the Kenya Medical Association, the Defenders Coalition, the Independent Medical Legal Union and Amnesty International Kenya. Reports from family and friends that Billy Simani has been arrested and is currently detained by the National Police Service in an undisclosed location.
20 June 2024: Following close monitoring by our observation teams verified by other rapid response teams, we release this preliminary report at 6.44 pm
20 June 2024: The Law Society of Kenya, Kenya Medical Association, Defenders Coalition, Independent Medical Legal Unit, and Amnesty International have deployed observers, legal and medical helplines, and resources nationwide. We intend to protect all protestors, peacefully expressing their constitutional right to free expression and assembly to the best of our ability.
Twenty-one human rights and governance organizations under the Police Reforms Working Group Kenya (PRWG-Kenya) are deeply alarmed and outraged by the mass arrests of 210 peaceful protestors, journalists and our own staff observing the #OccupyParliament protest this morning. The use of excessive force, intimidation of civilians, and violation of privacy through physical searches and arbitrary arrests is an outright infringement of the constitutional rights of the people of Kenya.