Many of Kenya’s leaders are professed Catholics. So as the Pope visits Kenya today, the first stop on his Africa trip, he has an excellent opportunity to use the visit to stand with victims of human rights abuses of all faiths and push for justice and accountability.
Kenya’s ongoing security crisis is a serious concern. At the same time, though, international and national organizations document abuses including disappearances and extrajudicial killings in counter-terrorism operations. Kenyan officials have responded by targeting human rights organizations that have documented these abuses, accusing them of terrorism without presenting any evidence. The government’s use of legal and administrative measures to restrict the work of nongovernment groups, including threats of arbitrary deregistration, is troubling.
Sustained discrimination against Somali refugees and ethnic Somali Kenyans has occasionally escalated into serious violence, including beatings, torture, sexual violence and other mistreatment at the hands of Kenyan police and security forces. Hostile rhetoric against Somali refugees has increased in the wake of Kenya’s security crisis, despite the government’s failure to directly link terror attacks to the refugee community.
Over many years, Kenya has had repeated episodes of violence, political manipulation of ethnicity, and serious crimes by the security forces, many of which have never been addressed. These factors fueled the 2007-2008 electoral crisis and left at least 1,100 dead and 650,000 people displaced.
Although that violence was exacerbated by longstanding impunity, Kenya’s leadership has failed to confront the challenge and continues to undermine efforts, including at the International Criminal Court, to provide justice for the victims. Many of the core recommendations made by Kenya’s own commission of inquiry into the 2007-2008 violence, including the urgent need to end pervasive impunity, implement security sector reforms, and address mass corruption and land grievances, remain unaddressed more than seven years later. That makes the recent abuses all the more troubling.
The Pope should speak out in Kenya about the importance of justice, tolerance, and support for the rights of marginalized people. The church’s voice could be key to reversing the deteriorating human rights situation in Kenya.
