Way forward for Kenya

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Way forward for Kenyas Universal Periodic Review

• Considerations and Strategies

Hellen K. Mutellah Steering Committee Member KSC-
UPR
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Outline of presentation

• Objectives Of The UPR
• UPR Cycle- At A Glance
• Roles In Follow-up To Implementation Of
  Recommendations
• Possible Follow Up Strategies
• Best Practices
• Challenges to note

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A. Objectives Of The UPR

• Improvement of human rights situation on the
  ground
• Fulfillment of the States human rights
  obligations and commitments, and an assessment of
  the positive developments and challenges it faces
• Enhancement of the States capacity and the
  provision of technical assistance, in
  consultation with, and with the consent of, the
  State concerned
• Sharing of best practice among States and other
  stakeholders
• Support for cooperation in the promotion and
  protection of human rights
• Encouragement of full cooperation and engagement
  with the Human Rights Council, other human rights
  bodies and the Office of the United Nations High
  Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

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Objectives Of The UPR (Cont)

• Change i.e. programmes / systems that would lead
  to further implement of Human Rights
• New Policy Legislations
• Judicial decisions meant to implement Human
  Rights
• greater transparency on the part of government on
  the implementation of Human Rights
• better co-operation with government in the
  implementations of human rights .
• Change in mind sets and attitudes of those in the
  country,
• greater public dialogue on human right issues.

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B. UPR Cycle- At A Glance

• Phase 1 Elaboration of the 3 reports which will
  be considered during the review
• Phase 2 Interactive Dialogue a 3-hour session
  in Geneva to consider the reports elaborated in
  phase 1 - the State under review (SuR) presents
  its report orally, answers to questions and
  receives recommendations
• Phase 3 Adoption of the outcome report
  containing the recommendations to be implemented
  by the SuR and
• Phase 4 Follow up of recommendations and
  preparation for the next review.

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UPR Cycle- At A Glance (Cont)

• Where we are as stakeholders Phase 3 (Human
  Rights Council session)
• 1 hour plenary meeting during the regular
  session of the HRC, dedicated to the adoption of
  the outcome of the UPR for each country under
  review
• Reviewed State, Council members and Observer
  States given opportunity to express views before
  adoption of outcome document.
• Other relevant stakeholders also given an
  opportunity to express their views before
  adoption.
• Usually through a statement of 2 minutes.
• Therefore need to strategically plan who shall be
  responsible for delivering this statement and how
  the views and interests of all stakeholders will
  be captured
• Outcome document adopted by the council

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UPR Cycle- At A Glance (Cont)

• Pursuant to the UPR review a report is adopted
  that contains recommendations, conclusions and
  voluntary pledges.
• The type of recommendation determines the kind of
  action stakeholders need to take.
• Recommendation directed at non-SuR states, or
  calling upon the SuR to request assistance from,
  or share information with, non-SuR states
• Recommendation emphasizing continuity (continue,
  persevere, maintain)
• Recommendation to consider change (consider,
  reflect upon, revise, review, envision)
• Recommendation of action that is general in
  nature (take measures or steps towards,
  encourage, promote, intensify, accelerate, engage
  with, respect, enhance)
• Recommendation of specific action (undertake,
  adopt, ratify, establish, implement, recognize
  in international legal sense).

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C. Roles In Follow-up To Implementation Of
Recommendations

• The State primarily responsible for the
  implementation of the UPR outcomes (conclusions,
  recommendations, voluntary pledges and
  commitments) that are part of the resultant
  documents.
• The international community called upon to
  assist States to implement review outcomes
  regarding capacity-building and technical
  assistance, in consultation with and with the
  consent of the State.
• Council may address, as appropriate, cases of
  persistent non-cooperation with the UPR mechanism
  where it has exhausted all other efforts to
  encourage a State to cooperate with it.

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D. Possible Follow Up Strategies

• Pre Human Rights Council Session (September 2010)
• (a) Recommendations rejected differed
• Advice the State in relation to the
  recommendations it declined. How? Consider using
  the available committee in place i.e. the
  Advisory Committee on International Obligations
  Min. of justice
• Critique the recommendations rejected/not
  accepted by the SuR with a possible view of
  offering technical advise and clarification on
  the recommendations

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Possible Follow Up Strategies (Cont)

• Recommendations that have been accepted
• Prepare work-plan on the basis of the Outcomes
  Report
• Organise events to inform civil society on the
  results of the review. i.e. a webcasting event
  showing the interactive dialogue for their
  communities.
• Organizing a press conference to publicize the
  results of the outcome document that was been
  approved by the country and made voluntary
  commitments for improvement. Also highlight
  recommendations that were rejected and/or put on
  hold

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Possible Follow Up Strategies (Cont)

• Use the media i.e. TV stations, newspapers and
  even the internet i.e. blogs and other avenues to
  spread the word. And further Keep up the
  attention of the media, which usually looses its
  interest after the Working Group session.
• A meeting of stakeholders i.e. to discuss the
  relevance that the UPR outcome to them
• Sending out thank you notes and or letters to the
  State missions who took part in the UPR and who
  took up the issues that were raised in the
  advocacy charter

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Possible Follow Up Strategies (Cont)

• Organize meetings. Which can be seminars,
  workshops, talks e.t.c to discuss the relevance
  of the outcome document with your community, and
  how community members can engage in the
  implementation process?
• Translating, if necessary, and disseminating the
  UPR recommendations among civil society
  organizations and to governmental bodies beyond
  the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

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Possible Follow Up Strategies (Cont)

• Lobby the Council to decide on specific
  follow-up.
• Assess the value of the work which we have
  undertaken thus far comparing our initial
  stakeholder reports with the OHCHR summary and
  with the eventual questions/recommendations by
  states and responses by the Kenyan state, etc.
• Confirm the way forward for UPR that we should
  deploy an integrated approach based on the
  complimentarity of different human rights
  frameworks (Treaty Body, Special Procedures, UPR,
  etc).

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Possible Follow Up Strategies (Cont)

• Prepare for making a statement during the regular
  HRC session stakeholders have only 2 minutes to
  speak.
• Sending out thank you notes and or letters to the
  State missions who took part in the UPR and who
  took up the issues that were raised in the
  advocacy charter.

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Possible Follow Up Strategies (Cont)

• Post Human Rights Council Session (September
  2010)
• Stage at which stakeholders need to strategize on
  the steps that need to be undertaken to ensure
  the realizations of the recommendations contained
  in Kenyas outcome report
• Begin to clarify the necessary milestones to
  realize the recommendations it accepted (this
  action can begin after the adoption of the
  Outcomes Report in September).

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Possible Follow Up Strategies (Cont)

• Raising awareness about the UPR, this may be done
  by organizing thematic discussions, round tables,
  seminars and workshops.
• Undertake mapping of those relevant stakeholders
  interested in being part of the implementation
  process and those that are not.
• Defining which of the recommendations your
  organization will address and how (this can
  include those rejected by the SuR)

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Possible Follow Up Strategies (Cont)

• Working with national entities (including
  Government, parliament, the judiciary and NHRIs)
  to help the State meet its obligations. In this
  regard Stakeholders often act as a catalyst to
  promote national legislative reforms and develop
  national policies.
• Ask the government for a plan of action to
  implement the recommendations and for
  governmental bodies to further incorporate the
  recommendations in their planning, or
  Stakeholders can collaborate with the State on
  developing a national action plan to implement
  the UPR outcomes where relevant stakeholder can
  engage in consultation with the government to
  participate in the implementation. This should be
  seen as an avenue through which relevant
  stakeholders can share expertise in the human
  rights field of concern, and to make the process
  and methodS of implementation as effective and
  targeted as possible.

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Possible Follow Up Strategies (Cont)

• Develop a strategy to monitor implementation.
  Government progress, problems or limitations
  during the 4 years between reviews.
• Monitor the human rights situation in the country
  and steps taken locally to implement UPR outcome.
  This can be done be collaboratively coming up
  with progress reports and or mid term review
  reports internally.
• Whenever possible, do not limit working only with
  the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Instead, work
  closely with other ministries and state agencies
  responsible for the issues addressed by the
  recommendations. Follow-up action could be
  undertaken in cooperation with the State
  entities, to whom the recommendations are
  addressed

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Possible Follow Up Strategies (Cont)

• Reporting back to the Council, treaty bodies and
  other relevant bodies on the status of
  implementation of recommendations under the
  various monitoring treaty body committees
• Make reference to recommendations and commitments
  in correspondence and public documents on the
  country concerned
• Pressuring for a follow up by the HRC
• Encourage review of implementation of
  recommendations in subsequent UPR reviews of the
  country concerned

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Possible Follow Up Strategies (Cont)

• Starting to work for the next cycle of the review
  by engaging with national entities towards the
  preparation of information for the next periodic
  review and collaborating with other civil
  society actors in the preparation and submission
  to OHCHR of follow-up information on the
  implementation of UPR outcomes.
• Pressuring for a follow up by the HRC
• Lobbying the Human Rights Council to decide on
  specific follow-up.

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E. Best Practices

• Brazil
• After the review and the adoption of the Working
  Groups report on Brazil, in April 2008,
  Conectas, a Brazilian human rights organization,
  undertook
• translated the recommendations and voluntary
  commitments contained in the report into
  Portuguese
• It analyzed the content of the Working Groups
  report, the conclusions of which were brought to
  the attention of the Brazilian Government and
  identified by Conectas in an oral intervention
  made at the Human Rights Councils eighth
  session and
• In collaboration with a coalition of Brazilian
  NGOs arranged a public discussion on the UPR
  process with the human rights commission of the
  Brazilian parliament.

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Best Practices (Cont)

• Since the Councils adoption of the final report,
  Conectas has
• Worked on follow-up to UPR recommendations and
  voluntary commitments by establishing
  partnerships with NGOs that work on specific
  issues in order to assess Brazils progress in
  implementing UPR outcomes and
• Worked with the Government in an ongoing process
  to identify concrete steps and policies towards
  implementing UPR recommendations and achieving
  voluntary commitments.
• shared its experiences with partner organizations
  in Argentina, Peru, the Philippines ,South Africa
  and Kenya

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Best Practices (Cont)

• France Finland
• Reviewed under the UPR in 2008 and in 2010,
  Friday and 11 June 2010, undertook a mid term
  review of its status of implementations made on
  the recommendations
• Finland presented on during Human Rights Council
  item 6 a mid- term report concerning the state of
  implementation of the 10 recommendations received
  and the two pledge made in the framework of their
  UPR held in April 2008.

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Challenges to note

• Implementation should start at the National Level
  so that the impact can be felt and also adopted
  at the local level.
• How to prioritize and define concrete strategies
  to work on follow up to recommendations
• Incorporating UPR activities in our respective
  organisational plans of action
• Work in a integrated manner with recommendations
  deriving from other UN mechanisms, such as the
  treaty bodies and special rapporteurs and
• Some recommendations are vague, making follow
  up difficult.

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• THANK YOU