NGO Report (for LOI) to the 4th Report of Kenya on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR)
Compiled by:
StopIGM.org /
Zwischengeschlecht.org
CCPR Timeline Kenya 2019-2021
• In April 2019, Kenya's 4th State report (CCPR/C/KEN/4) on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR) was published on the CCPR Homepage. It mentions intersex in paras 172-173, however, it only briefly touches upon IGM under “corrective surgeries” and “medical examination and tests” on intersex babies, further referring to “internationally acceptable [medical] guidelines” in para 173, but remains silent on infanticide and abandonment of intersex children.
• Above January 2020 Thematic Intersex NGO Report (for LOI) by StopIGM.org (INT/CCPR/ICO/KEN/41038) documents recent evidence and testimony from local intersex advocates and expert bodies, namely the Intersex Persons Society of Kenya (IPSK), the Taskforce on Policy, Legal, Institutional and Administrative Reforms regarding the Intersex Persons in Kenya and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), demonstrating that not only medical IGM practices remain widespread (p. 9-10), but particularly infanticide and abandonment of intersex babies (p. 10-12), too. It further documents insufficient Government initiatives failing to effectively address these practices (p. 14-15), makes the case for an explicit prohibition (p. 12-13), provides background information on such practices (p. 8), and contains Suggested Questions (p. 4).
• During its 128th Session in March 2020, the UN Human Rights Committee (HRCttee) drafted the List of Issues (LOI) with questions to the Kenian Government (CCPR/C/KEN/Q/4). Unfortunately, it didn't include IGM and infanticide, but made reference to the Coroners Service Act of 2017 aimed at investigating and persecutung cases of intanticide (para 14), and discrimination of intersex children (para 5).
• On 5 March 2021 during a private NGO Briefing to the Committee, an Intersex NGO Statement (PDF, 58kb) by Kenyan lawyer and intersex expert John Chigiti SC on behalf of StopIGM.org raised intersex infanticide, urging the Committee to address this violation during the Session.
• On March 6-9 2021, CCPR will examined the human rights record of Kenya during its 131st Online Session, asking tough questions on intersex infanticide and IGM, with the Kenyan delegation only giving partial answers. Full transcript of intersex Q&A + video links coming soon ...
• After the Session, CCPR will publish its Concluding Observations with binding recommendations for Kenya – hopefully including one on infanticide of intersex children and other forms of IGM practices, and the very 1st UN Treaty Body intersex recommendation to Kenya!
