A Legal Resource Guide On Implementing LGBTIQ+ Human Rights In Kenya
After over two years of engaging judges and magistrates in Kenya on their role in protecting and ensuring the highest enjoyment of fundamental rights and freedoms for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ+) community in Kenya, INEND has created this non-discrimination Bench Book to support judicial officers and other key stakeholders in the justice system in understanding issues affecting LGBTIQ+ persons in Kenya, and how these issues have been interpreted by Kenyan courts and other courts in different jurisdictions.
This Bench Book serves as a reference point for LGBTIQ+ persons and their allies on the current status of varied aspects of human rights in Kenya which functions under common-law jurisdiction, and therefore courts are guided by precedent, set by other courts of similar or higher jurisdiction.
The Legal resource guide also provides a collection of best practices from Kenyan courts, as well as from other countries, on how to adjudicate the rights of LGBTIQ+ persons with references from a local, regional, and global perspective to judicial officers.
Queering The Ballot Report clearly shows that queer Kenyans can no longer be ignored or wished away in a country that Our existence is regarded as a ”non-issue” or viewed as a Distraction.
We have the right to fully participate in all civic processes, including the electoral process, which is a critical civic duty and form of expression as Electoral processes directly impact the lived realities of vulnerable and marginalized groups, including the LGBTQ+ community.
Elected leaders are responsible for the development of laws and policies regarding their rights, such as equality before the law, non-discrimination, access to resources, as well as services tailor-made for the community. Furthermore, elected leaders hold great influence on the attitudes of the general public, and could therefore make or break social and cultural changes that are vital to the advancement and protection of the rights of queer people in the country.
This report paints a contextual picture of the evolution and monumental milestones preceding the 2022 general elections.
An Economic Justice Report For Lesbian, Bisexual, Queer & Gender Non-Conforming Persons in Kenya
Kenya is progressively realising women’s economic inclusion through policy environment and active participation. However, when it comes to LBQ women and Gender Non-Conforming persons, economic exclusion remains an active issue, with limited initiatives that we can benefit from to bolster economic growth. This Exclusion comes in various forms, including employment services, banking services, and funding opportunities.
INEND as part of a consortium comprising Empowered Ladies Initiative for Equality (ELITE) LBQ, Voices of Women from Western Kenya (VOWWEK), Upinde Advocates for Inclusion (UAFI), Udada Imara, And QueerHive; We sought to document the experiences of LBQ women and GNC persons in Kenya, specifically in relation to the discrimination that exists in the country, and how it affects our economic inclusion and economic Justice at large.
Background Context
Kenya has thus far indicated a very strong stance against the LGBTQ+ community with discriminatory laws such as sections 162 and 165 of the Penal Code still in existence, which criminalise consensual homosexual intimacy. Despite relatively few arrests being carried out in relation to this crime, this study reveals that these laws have formed the basis of contingent discriminatory acts
DATING IN THE DIGITAL AGE : An Anthology by Queer Kenyans
An Anthology by Kenyan Queers
Published by: The Initiative for Equality and Non Discrimination (INEND), February 2021 Supported by: The Association for Progressive Communication (APC)Edited
Kanuni zifuatazo ni muhimu ili kuinua kigezo cha mtandao ambao unazingatia usawa wa kijinsia na wa watu wote. Mtandao wa kifeministi huanza na kuwezesha wanawake, na watu wenye hisia tofauti za kimapenzi na jinsia kufurahia mtandao ambao ni wa kukubalika, kujimudu, uwazi, maana, usio na masharti, na unaopatikana kwa urahisi na kwa usawa.Mtandao wa kifeministi huwezesha wanawake na watu wenye hisia tofauti za kimapenzi na jinsia kufurahia tofauti zetu, haki zetu, huku tukivunja misingi ya mfumo dume. Hali hii inajumuisha tofauti za hali zetu, na muktadha, kama vile tofauti za umri, jinsia, ulemavu, tabaka mbali mbali, hali zetu za kiuchumi, imani na misimamo tofauti za kisiasa na kidini, kikabila na rangi za ngozi zinazotutenganisha.Kanuni zifuatazo ni muhimu katika kuafikia malengo ya mtandao wa kifeministi;-.
ONLINE GENDER BASED VIOLENCE : The findings report.
The United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (UN DEVAW) 1993 defined Gender-Based Violence (GBV) as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion, or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in private or in public life.” Online violence against women are acts “committed, abetted or aggravated” in part or fully, by the use of information and communication technologies.”
Gender based hate speech (advocacy of gender-based hatred that constitutes incitement to
discrimination, harm, hostility or violence) should be prohibited. Incitement to harm comprises of both incitement against a group and incitement against an individual.
Even where perpetrators are held liable, further reflection is needed on how to hold re-transmitters responsible for the re-transmission of violating materials. Intent, or more specifically, lack of intent, can arguably be an issue with secondary transmitters. Still, holding persons accountable despite lack of intent is not without basis under the law. In Kenya criminal law has developed the concept of reckless endangerment and the civil law concept of negligence when intent cannot be established
KEEPING THE MOVEMENT ALIVE : A protest guide
Protests can be spotlighted both historically and contemporarily in different African countries, centring issues like femicide, police brutality, authoritarian governments, homophobia, apartheid regimes, and colonization, among many others. Protesting has therefore been fundamental as an organizing technique employed by structurally excluded and silenced people.
In light of increasing feminist movement building pursuits in Kenya, and escalating political action through protests, both digitally and in physical spaces in Africa and globally, the Initiative for Equality and Non Discrimination (INEND) sought to develop a protest guide to support movements and activists interested in exploring creative and versatile ways of protesting, that ultimately sustains movements.
The feminist principle ‘nothing for us, without us’ was pivotal in the development of this guide.
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