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Translation Spanish:

Contenido migrado de AMP

In comparison with other Sub-Saharan African countries, Kenya appears to be making sufficient progress in realizing economic and social rights. But the sharp disparities by province suggest that the government's duty of non-discrimination is not being met. 

Making Human Rights Accountability More Graphic

CESR's fact sheet on Kenya provides a graphic overview of selected elements of the human rights to education, health, food, water and housing, seeking to highlight areas where government efforts to realize these rights may be inadequate. It was prepared in light of Kenya's appearance before the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) in November 2008.

The 41st Session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

CESCR is the body of independent experts that monitors implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights by its States parties.

Partof CESCR's 41st session (3-21 November 2008 in Geneva) focused on theconsideration of the state reports submitted by Kenya. The discussion of this meeting can be found here. Based on the information provided in the fact sheet, the Committee experts asked the Kenyan government questions about:

  • Access to improved water sources in the Kibera slum;
  • Disparities in HIV prevalence among men and women across the provinces;
  • Child malnutrition and mortality rates;
  • Rising maternal and infant mortality rates;
  • Childhood diseases compared with vaccination rates.

In light of its consideration of Kenya's reports, and the subsequent discussion, the Committee adopted its concluding observations.These concluding observations list principal subjects of concern alongwith suggestions and recommendations to the State party. Some listedconcerns that were presented by the fact sheet include:

  •  "The Committee notes with concern that more than half of the population of the State party lives in extreme poverty, i.e. on less than US$ 1 a day, in particular persons living in rural and deprived urban areas..."
  • "The Committee is concerned about the high incidence of acute malnutrition in the North Eastern Province and of chronic malnutrition in all provinces of the State party, particularly affecting children."
  • "The Committee notes with concern that persons living in informal settlements, as well as in arid and semi-arid rural areas, are frequently deprived of affordable access to adequate water and sanitation..."
  • "The Committee is concerned about the high maternal, infant and under-five mortality rates, the lack of adequately equipped maternal health care facilities and skilled birth attendance, especially in the North Eastern and Coastal Provinces..."

Other NGO Reports

Other NGOs also contributedparallel reports on the Kenyan government's compliance with theInternational Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Get Involved

To find out more about how the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights works, and how you can work with it, see CESR's manual on how to submit reports. There are also various legal means related to the UN to hold states to account for their legal human rights obligations.

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