Forced evictions and violations of rights recognized by regional and international instruments in Kenya

Country: Kenya
Body: Other Domestic Courts
Case number: Constitutional Petition No. 2 of 2011
Year of judgement: 2011
PDF of decision

Summary:
The case was brought before the High Court of Kenya by Hakijamii, a human rights organisation in Nairobi, based on the request of over 1,000 individuals. They included women, children and older persons who reported having been evicted from their homes in Garissa municipality. The homes were built on public land that they had occupied since the 1940s and they were evicted without prior notice or consultation. The High Court observed that civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights were all interrelated and stressed the importance of accessing remedial mechanisms with respect to the latter three rights. Referring to Articles 11 and 26 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Articles 16 and 18 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, the High Court decided that the forced evictions amounted to a violation of the rights to life, the right to information, the right to fair administrative decisions, the right of the elderly to pursue personal development, to live in dignity, respect and freedom from abuse and to receive reasonable care. The Court ordered returning the land to the evicted persons as well as monetary compensation.

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