Through the Human Rights Clinic, I have worked with the
Kenya Human Rights Commission since 2003. KHRC is an independent, non-partisan, not-for-profit, non-governmental
organization that promotes human rights in Kenya and lends its expertise to similar groups elsewhere in East
Africa. (Note that KHRC
shouldn’t be confused with the Kenyan National Human Rights Commission, an arm
of the government of Kenya. The National Human Rights Commission employs
many excellent advocates and has earned a reputation for independence, but KHRC
is entirely separate and not part of the government.)
Over the past several years, KHRC has evolved from a traditional human rights organization that developed initiatives in the capital and promoted them throughout the country to one that serves more of a coordinating role. Under KHRC’s new approach, it serves as the nexus of a network of community-based human rights groups from across Kenya. These local organizations play a large role in setting the advocacy agenda for KHRC’s national work.
My current work with KHRC grew out of a session that I
attended in July 2006, at which representatives of approximately 25 local
organizations met in Thika (outside Nairobi) to identify the issues that were
most important to local communities. Some of the issues were predictable:
- the labor movement must contend
with employers who don’t want unions and union leaders more interested in
lining their own pockets than in advocating on behalf of line workers;
- the communities directly affected by the new titanium mine that the company Tiomin and the government of Kenya are developing south of Mombasa are struggling to hold on to as much of their traditional farm land as possible; and,
- Muslims in the north of Kenya face regular searches by foreign soldiers who patrol the Kenya-Somalia border looking for terrorist suspects.
But I was surprised to hear from so many people about the
conflict between people and wildlife around Kenya’s national parks and wildlife
reserves. The problem is particularly
severe around the Maasai Mara National Reserve. Referred to locally as “the Mara,” this vast area is home to scores of
species of wildlife and is one of the main tourist attractions in East Africa.
In January 2007, I decided to return to Kenya, at the
invitation of KHRC, to look into human-wildlife conflict around the Mara. I had three goals. First, and most basic, was to learn more
about the situation. The second was to
determine whether there were legal or policy issues with which the Human Rights
Clinic could assist. Finally, I invited
Nancy Benson and Abigail Rhodes along to document both the problem and our work
there as part of our new Globalization on the Ground project.
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