Category: Legal Rights

The Government with support from UN Agencies and 89 state and non-state actors have scaled up targeted response interventions to address current drought and reach the most vulnerable in the community.

According to the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA), the sectors being addressed are water, livestock, agriculture, health & nutrition, education, security and social protection.

In a press statement on the current drought situation, the authority said that the Government and County governments have spent Sh22 billion on interventions.

“Last week, the government, through the National Drought Management Authority, disbursed Ksh984, 636,000 to 91,170 households under the Hunger Safety Net Programme (HSNP) regular cash transfer portfolio in the counties of Marsabit, Wajir, Turkana and Mandera,” the statement said.

The Authority CEO Lt. Col. (Rtd) Hared Hassan noted that each household received Sh10, 800, while a further Sh10 billion has been disbursed under the Inua Jamii cash transfers and Sh4 billion for relief food distribution and emergency relief cash transfers.

The drought situation has continued to worsen in the ASALs and some pockets of counties outside of the ASALs as a result of the four failed seasons and the late onset and poorly distributed 2022 short rains season.

With the deterioration of drought, the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance currently stands at 4.35 million in the ASALs based on 2022 long rains food and nutritional security assessment report.

Another 846,000 people in pockets of nine non-ASAL counties are adversely affected and these pockets are in Kiambu, Kirinyaga, Elgeyo Marakwet, Machakos, Murang’a, Siaya, Homa Bay, Nakuru and Migori counties.

“These numbers are bound to change based on the performance of the short rains 2022 and its impacts on local livelihoods and although some areas have received rainfall, recovery will take months hence the need for scaled up and sustained response efforts,” the CEO said in the statement.

The reported scattered rains in pocket areas is likely to induce abnormal migrations to the grazing zones further accelerating livestock mortalities in the counties of Samburu, Mandera, Isiolo, Lamu, Marsabit and Garissa counties.

Conflict over diminishing resources continue to be reported in parts of Laikipia, Samburu, Isiolo, Kitui, Tana River and Garissa.

Based on the seasonal forecast, that has seen delayed onset of OND 2022, the drought situation shall remain precarious in majority of the ASAL counties straining food security and elevating drought risk levels.

Currently the statement says that the number of counties in the Alarm phase of drought has increased from 10 to 14.

These counties are Laikipia, Marsabit, Garissa, Isiolo, Kilifi, Kwale, Samburu, Tana River, Tharaka Nithi, Turkana, Wajir, Kitui, Kajiado and Mandera.

Seven counties namely Embu, Narok, Taita Taveta, Makueni, Meru, Nyeri and Lamu are in the Alert drought phase.

Apart from Embu and Laikipia which showed marginal improvement, Baringo and West Pokot remained under the Normal drought phase. However, the drought situation remains critical in other parts of the ASALs.

Kenya is among the Horn of Africa countries affected by the current severe drought in the region that has left millions across the region, which includes Kenya, Djibouti, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan and Ethiopia, facing acute food insecurity and malnutrition.

The worsening household food security situation has resulted in acute malnutrition rates across the ASAL counties with 942,000 children aged 6-59 months acutely malnourished and 134,000 cases of pregnant or lactating women acutely malnourished and in need of treatment.

The health and nutrition sector intensified active case finding and necessary referrals to contain the increasing malnutrition rates

The European Union, through NDMA, has disbursed Sh630 million to support interventions in non-food sectors of water, livestock, education, health, peace and coordination.

The bulk of the EU funds have been spent on provision of livestock feeds and in the last two months alone, NDMA has provided more than 60,000 bags of drought pellets.

In addition, USAID has disbursed Sh42 billion to support various implementing partners such as WFP which is implementing the Lisha Jamii programme worth Sh3.4 billion, while FAO is supporting 14 ASAL counties in provision of livestock feeds and veterinary services.

Source: Kenya News Agency

The Prime Minister of the Federal Government of Somalia, H.E Hamza Abdi Barre, who is on an official visit to Djibouti, visited the Idris Farah Habane Police Training College in Djibouti, where Somali police forces train.

PM Hamza visited the training center of the Somali army and police and told them to take advantage of their officers and train hard so that you can protect your country.

PM Hamza thanked the government of Djibouti for the regularly training our police forces, which is part of Djibouti’s efforts to stabilize the country and increase the safety of Somali citizens.

Djibouti, which has been central to the re-establishment of our government, supports all parties and stands by the people and the government of Somalia, and the friendly forces in the country are part of the countries that regularly train our troops in Somalia.

Source: Somalia National News Agency

Commissioner General of the Ethiopian Federal Police Commission, Demelash G/Michael held discussion with the National Police Director General of Djibouti Colonel Abdorahman Ali in Addis Ababa today.

It will be recalled that the Ethiopian Federal Police and the National Police of Djibouti have previously signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly prevent and control cross-border crimes.

As part of the agreement, the police institutions of the two countries have established a joint security task force and evaluated the activities that have been carried out in the border areas and agreed to further strengthen the results achieved so far.

During their discussion, the two officials have mentioned about the intensive work being done by the two institutions to extradite criminals to the respective countries.

The two countries have registered encouraging results in their actions against human trafficking and money laundering they said, stressing the need to reinforce the ongoing joint crime prevention activities.

Furthermore, the two countries are working together to clear the border area of the two countries from any terrorist and other criminal activities.

Source: Ethiopia News agency

Myanmar’s displaced Rohingya Muslims are marking a solemn anniversary this week.

On August 25, 2017, the Myanmar military began a brutal “clearance operation” in response to government reports that a Rohingya insurgent group called the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army or ARSA, had attacked more than 30 police outposts in Rakhine State.

The disproportionate response from Myanmar security forces, which commenced at daybreak, drove an estimated 700,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to neighboring Bangladesh over the following weeks, and led to charges of genocide against the Myanmar army leaders.

The death toll rose quickly.

An estimated 6,700 Rohingya were killed in the first month with thousands more in the months to follow, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), as accounts of gang rapes, torture, and mass killings were relayed by survivors and villagers who escaped the attacks.

Despite the global condemnation of their actions in 2017, the Myanmar army has continued its brutal aggression on civilians since seizing power in a coup last year, followed by attacks on all ethnic groups.

Myanmar officials have denied the military carried out human rights abuses. The government said the campaign was necessary to defend against attacks by Rohingya militants.

In March, the United States declared Myanmar military actions against the Rohingya as genocide.

Experts say ongoing abuses being committed across Myanmar have confirmed the credibility of the accounts of the 2017 attacks.

“It’s drawn the attention of the international community to the grave abuses that the military is committing and also has opened the eyes of some of the other groups within Myanmar to the plight of the Rohingya, groups that had previously not believed what the military was committing against the Rohingya or believed the military’s lies,” explained Dan Sullivan, Refugee International’s Asia and Africa deputy director.

While the move to unite all opposing ethnic forces has become increasingly popular, some rights groups are not sure that it will become reality.

“In order to overcome the ruthless military junta, all parties need to be united against them,” says Kyaw Win, the executive director of the Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN). “It is not enough only opposing the junta … it is crucial to collaborate with each other.”

There are 135 ethnic groups in Myanmar, excluding the Rohingya, who were stripped of their citizenship in a 1982 law created by the army, which perpetuated decades of abuse and unfair treatment.

Meanwhile, life in the sprawling Bangladesh camps remains tough for the stateless refugees, who face adverse conditions and increased restrictions.

“Since the completion of the fencing around the whole refugee camp, people are having trouble traveling from one camp to another—even inside the fenced area—because of the security forces who were deployed in the camp and many other reasons,” explained a 25-year-old camp youth, who lives in Kutapalong, the world’s largest refugee camp.

The youth, who asked to remain anonymous, says that while the fencing is good for security, police often extort the Rohingya instead of protecting them, and taxi fees have doubled because drivers now have to pay more money at checkpoints.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet discussed repatriation options with Rohingya representatives during a visit to the massive camp earlier this month.

“All of them have said, we want to go back, but we want to go back … when we have an identity as citizens of Myanmar,” she said while visiting the camp. “When our rights are respected, we can have our livelihoods again, we can have our land and we can feel we are a part of a country.”

This desire for equal rights and recognition is echoed by the few Rohingya who have remained in Rakhine, as coup-related travel restrictions in Myanmar have contributed to increased food prices, exacerbating the hardships.

An experienced Rohingya aid worker in Rakhine who did not want to use his name because of security concerns, assessed the junta’s promises of new homes and jobs for Rohingya people who choose to be repatriated.

“It is very difficult, and I would say there are rare opportunities for the Rohingya. Inside Myanmar and Maungdaw, I would say no preparations have been made for them to come back,” the aid worker told VOA by phone, referring to a town in Rakhine.

The aid worker, who witnessed the 2017 exodus first-hand and assisted foreign support teams in Bangladesh, said that some of the refugees are desperate to escape the camps.

“Some people will try to come back but, in the end, it will be a more horrible situation than what they are facing in the refugee camps.”

The worker also said some repatriation shelters, complete with barbed wire and watch towers, have been constructed near Maungdaw in the last few years, but they have already been flooded and damaged.

While waiting for conditions to improve, foreign aid and rights groups are urging the Bangladeshi government to allow schooling for the displaced youngsters in the camps.

“Expanding these education and livelihood opportunities for girls and boys will be the best way to prevent social problems and criminality and to fully prepare refugees for sustainable reintegration in Myanmar society,” Bachelet said at the end of her visit.

Preparing future generations of Rohingya is also a concern for BHRN’s Kyaw Win.

“The Bangladesh government has done a great job opening its border to save many lives,” Kyaw Win said. “However, not allowing education for the children in camp is like killing their souls. Education is extremely important for the Rohingya children to build up their community in future. More humanitarian and human rights organizations must be allowed to operate inside the camp to provide trauma healing courses.”

Despite setbacks created by increased Myanmar junta atrocities, the first step toward justice for the Rohingya people occurred last month in The Hague.

After dismissing objections by Myanmar’s military ruler, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in July allowed a case to proceed alleging that Myanmar performed acts of genocide against the Rohingya.

Despite overwhelming evidence gathered, analysts say that more pressure is needed as the trial could continue for years.

“Fundamentally, the impunity of the junta needs to be addressed through concerted international actions with better coordinated and expanded sanctions including the oil and gas sectors, the pursuing of an arms embargo and then sustaining that humanitarian aid and accountability,” explained Sullivan of Refugee International.

BHRN’s Khaw Win agrees with calls for increased pressure on the junta.

“More countries need to join the ICJ case and more countries should open up universal jurisdiction cases against the perpetrators,” Khaw Win said, adding that mounting evidence collected by international agencies is increasingly difficult to refute.

Texting from his bamboo hut, the unnamed 25-year-old Rohingya youth struck a more optimistic tone on the historic court ruling.

“We feel good because the world is still under the administration of intellectual people that will reveal there’s no place in the world for perpetrators,” the youth wrote. “We also feel that this is the time to deliver justice and hold the perpetrators accountable.”

Source: Voice of America

Kenya’s tightly contested presidential election led to growing tensions between supporters of the two main candidates William Ruto the president-elect and Raila Odinga. Experts say claims of election fraud are likely to see the results challenged in court.

The losers of last week’s presidential election and any Kenyan citizen have seven days to file their petition at the Supreme Court.

The electoral commission chair announced William Ruto as the winner of last week’s presidential vote. He garnered 50.49% of the vote his main challenger Raila Odinga got 48.85%.

Odinga’s chief returning officer disagreed with the results and claimed their win was stolen.

It’s unclear whether Odinga will challenge the results at the Supreme Court, but the country’s law allows Kenyans to challenge the results and file their own petition.

Omwanza Ombati, an electoral law expert, says those who oppose the win can ask the court for directions and must be aware there is a limited time.

“The orders that are available for grant by the court are scrutiny and recount and also to nullify the return of William Ruto, president-elect. [It] is a very narrow petition in terms of what you can seek,” he said.

In Kenya, the petitioners have seven days to file their case at the Supreme Court, and the respondents have four days to answer those allegations. The court is required to make a ruling in two weeks.

Political commentator Martin Andati says the commission had its own flaws and some of the irregularities witnessed in the process will be laid out.

“The process has been fairly open,” he said. “There have been challenges, attempts to infiltrate the system, there have been claims of numbers being padded, there have been claims in some places you will hear some numbers they were supposed to be 10,000 but declared 1,000. So, those kinds of allegations will definitely come up and arise at the Supreme Court. So, the people who have the power and the mandate to resolve those issues are the Supreme Court.”

In 2017, the Supreme Court nullified the presidential results after a successful petition by Odinga.

There were protests and celebrations after the announcement of the presidential results.

There was also chaos at the electoral commission tallying center when the chief was about to announce the winner of the election. The election split the commission in four, disagreeing with the presidential results called out by the electoral chief.

Ombati says the division of the commission does not have a huge impact in terms of the law but damages the electoral body’s credibility and reputation.

“The presidential returning officer is the chairperson of the commission, and that sole responsibility is not shared among other commissioners. So, it’s him who makes the decision in terms of return, it’s him who signs the certificate of the winner. In terms of the split going by our history, it creates doubts in large parts of the population about what went on, remembering this was an election that was evenly split across the country. So, I think it aggravates the situation for those who do not believe in their loss,” he said.

Some observers say the electoral dispute and the division at the electoral agency have taken away from the gains Kenya made in its electoral reforms after the post-election violence of 2007-08, which led to deaths, displacement and inter-communal fighting.

The international observers have urged those aggrieved with the process to take the legal route and called on political leaders to calm their supporters as the process concludes.

Source: Voice of America