Countdown to closure of public hearings; experts to have their say on 23 - 25 August 2011

Participants at the pre-hearing forum in Garissa

For the past two months the inquiry team has crossed the country listening to evidence from Kenyans who have either fallen victim to or witnessed fellow Kenyans suffer various forms of sexual and reproductive health violations; both in and outside health facilities.

The first round of hearings began in Nairobi in early June, with the inquiry team moving to Mombasa the following week. Round two of the hearings in mid-July took the team to Kitale from where they proceeded to Kisumu. The team then embarked on round three of the hearings in late July, beginning in Embu and then proceeding to Garissa for the final hearings.

During the public hearings, the inquiry team received evidential information from close to 200 individuals, groups and institutions in the form of oral submissions and written memorandums. The team continues to receive written submissions up to today and will continue to receive them up to the end of August. Individuals and organisations wishing to contribute written submissions can find out more information here.

As the public hearings come to a conclusion, the inquiry team is organising a special forum to be held in Nairobi 23 - 25 August. This forum will bring together a wide range of experts in sexual and reproductive health issues with a view to shedding more light on some of the issues raised during the regional public hearings.

Recognising the right of response, the forum will also provide an opportunity for institutions and individuals adversely mentioned during the regional hearings to respond and state their positions before the inquiry team compiles the report on the findings and recommendations for publication and onward dissemination.

Eastern and Central Hearings take place in Embu this week

On Thursday and Friday, the Inquiry will hold public hearings in Embu. The hearings will bring together individuals and organizations to share their stories and give their opinions about the state of sexual and reproductive health rights in Eastern and Central provinces. We warmly welcome you to be part of this landmark process that will assist the government to actualise the Bill of Rights.

Details for the Embu hearings are as follows:

Dates: Thursday 21st and Friday 22nd of July
Times: 8.30am - 4.30pm
Venue: Embu County Hall.

Public Hearings for Western and Nyanza take place Kisumu this week

On Friday and Saturday, the Inquiry will hold public hearings in Kisumu. The hearings will bring together individuals and organizations to share their stories and give their opinions about the state of sexual and reproductive health rights in Western and Nyanza provinces. We warmly welcome you to be part of this landmark process that will assist the government to actualise the Bill of Rights. 

Details for the Kisumu hearings are as follows:

Dates: Friday 15th and Saturday 16th of July
Times: 8.30am - 4.30pm
Venue: Kisumu Social Hall.
(see map below for more details)

More information about how the Hearings will run, can be found here.

View Larger Map

KNCHR Completes Its Hearings in Nairobi and Coast Regions

During the month of June, the KNCHR successfully conducted hearings for its National Public Inquiry on Sexual and Reproductive Health in Nairobi (Ufungamano House) and Mombasa (Tononoka Social Hall). The hearings brought together a diverse group of Kenyans from all walks of life and featured a range of sexual and reproductive health topics ranging from rape to cases of medical negligence in various health facilities. So far it has been an insightful and humbling experience.

What has contributed most to the success of the hearings thus far has been the willingness of members of the public to stand up and speak out about various events and situations that relate to sexual and reproductive health, either in their own lives or in the lives of their families and friends. Many of the events and situations that were narrated were extremely personal and oftentimes difficult to speak about, especially before a panel, yet many witnesses fearlessly spoke out about them. This required quite a bit of courage and has been driven by many people’s convictions that the process will contribute to the greater good. 

Panellists listen to a witness give evidence at the Nairobi hearing

The Commission’s Inquiry team intends to continue the hearings in the same spirit in the four remaining regions: North Rift region; Nyanza & Western region; North & Upper Eastern regions; and Eastern and Central regions. Members of the public are encouraged to continue participating and contributing to this worthwhile process in whatever way they can, be it through attending and/or testifying before the panel or sending in a written individual or group submission to reproductivehealth@knchr.org. Some complaints and submissions have already been received to date and the Commission welcomes many more, because it is only through cooperation and collaboration that this Inquiry can become a tool to bring about much needed change in sexual and reproductive health in Kenya.

THE KNCHR Launches Its National Public Inquiry on Sexual and Reproductive Health

KNCHR's Chairperson Florence Simbiri-Jaoko opens the event

Yesterday, the KNCHR officially launched its National Public Inquiry on Sexual and Reproductive Health at The Sarova Stanley Hotel in Nairobi’s CBD. The event was attended by a diverse group of stakeholders from both the public and private sectors. This launch succeeds pre-hearing assessments which were carried out across the country earlier this year and marks the beginning of a series of hearings which will take place across the country. The hearings will be characterized by a panel comprising 3 KNCHR Commissioners and 2 sexual and reproductive health experts from Kenya. The schedule for the hearings will be as follows:

Region	Dates	Venue
Nairobi	8th – 9th June	Ufungamano House
Coast	16th – 17th June	Tononoka Social Hall
North Rift	12th – 13th July	Kitale County Hall
Nyanza and Western	15th – 16th July	Kisumu Social Hall
Eastern and Central	21st – 22nd July	Embu County Hall
North Eastern	27th – 28th July	Garissa Public Library

Abdulkadir Noormohamed, Head of KNCHR's Redress Program speaks at the event

The KNCHR welcomes members of the public to attend hearings in their regions and encourages participation from those individuals or groups who have testimonies that relate to sexual and reproductive health (including service provision, access and violations, among others).

Public Hearings begin in Nairobi

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the Inquiry's public hearings, events that will bring together individuals and organizations to share their stories and give their opinions about the state of sexual and reproductive health rights in Kenya. We warmly welcome you to be part of this landmark process that will assist the government to actualise the Bill of Rights. Details for the Nairobi hearings are as follows:

Dates: Wednesday 7th and Thursday 8th of May 
Times: 8.30am - 4.30pm
Venue: Ufungamano House, State House Rd. and Mamlaka Rd.
            (see map below for more details)

More information about how the Hearings will run, can be found here.

View Larger Map

Putting Women’s Empowerment on the Truth and Justice Agenda

Recent media reports on the special sessions of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission, dedicated to hearing the experiences women, have described how commissioners have been brought to tears hearing about the trauma inflicted on women during military and militia operations across the country, from Isiolo to Mount Elgon. According to the Standard, witnesses in Isiolo, who narrated stories of rape, indecent assault, genital mutilation and forced labour at the hands of security forces, welcomed the opportunity to share their experiences. “We feel somehow healed”, said one.

The Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission deserves praise for bringing women’s experiences of conflict to the fore. Women experience destructive synergies of loss and suffering during periods of conflict: violence harms women; harms expose women to further violence; further violence leads to spiral effect of social exclusion and vulnerability. Yet such experiences are often considered ‘less serious’ than those that are direct results of fighting.

However, to truly heal the women of Kenya affected by conflict, it is important to understand the gendered nature of their experiences. During conflict, the oppression and violence that women experience in day-to-day life escalate beyond social bound. New experiences of violence and domination ‘normalize’ previously ‘unthinkable’ acts. This further entrenches gender inequalities, which can remain long after the fighting has stopped.

In its Concluding Observations on Kenya published in February 2011, for example, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women expressed its concern about “the persistence of adverse cultural norms, practices and traditions as well as patriarchal attitudes and deep-rooted stereotypes regarding the roles, responsibilities and identities of women and men”, as well as about the “high prevalence of violence against women and girls and widespread incidents of sexual violence, including rape, in both the private and public spheres” and about the fact that such violence “appears to be socially legitimized and accompanied by a culture of silence and impunity and that cases of violence are thus underreported”.

These gender inequalities disempower women, making it difficult to refuse unwanted or unprotected sex, negotiate condom use, or use contraception against a partner's wishes; increasing women’s vulnerability to sexual and reproductive health threats, such as sexual exploitation, unplanned pregnancy, unsafe abortion and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV/AIDS.

It will be important for the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission to translate the narratives it hears from women across the country into concrete recommendations to promote women’s empowerment and address these systemic gender inequalities. This would have a significant impact on the government’s ability to meet its reproductive health policy objectives and uphold the sexual and reproductive health rights of women across Kenya.

Why ‘Mama Mboga’ approach is critical for sexual and reproductive health rights

I once visited a foreign country during winter and couldn’t wait to return to the warmth of my motherland. For the first time, I saw living dead trees with no leaves. I came to understand a friend’s mantra that “when the desirable is not available, the available becomes desirable”. I’ll explain.

The ordinary Kenyan is popularly referred to as ‘Mama Mboga’ – which is Kiswahili for a simple woman who sells vegetables. Mama Mboga relies on rumour where she has no verifiable information. Although it’s unclear when, how and why this reference came to be, it fits well. Only a small percentage of Kenyan women sell vegetables for a living, but the description of Mama Mboga serves journalists in telling whether the language of their stories is suitable. If Mama Mboga can read your story and understand it, you’ve written well. But Mama Mboga, which can also apply to men, is also a useful standard for judging what is relevant. A journalist can write a story about “the disambiguation of examination standardisation in taxpayer-sponsored schools”, but a story on “why children from public schools need less exams” is more likely to attract Mama Mboga’s attention.

So what about the winter trees story? When snow falls, water is present in the form of solid ice, but for the tree to use it and grow, it must be warmed and broken down to liquid form. This brings me to sexual and reproductive health rights. Kenyan media have recently carried stories about condom shortages, poor health services in public hospitals and mothers dying as a result of pregnancy complications. Such stories are the kind referred to as “human interest stories”. They have a ‘human being’ as their centrepiece and there is ‘interest’ in them because they tell ‘stories’ of real people. Mama Mboga is a real woman with rights. She may not know how to articulate them as well as a journalist does, but she needs to know her rights so that she can claim them. With knowledge, she is armed to separate the desirable from the rumour that is merely present and available. In human rights lingo, she is a “claim holder”, while the government from whom she seeks those rights is a “duty bearer”.

A rights-based approach to sexual and reproductive health demands that we use appropriate language to each audience and that we bring to the lowest level all that needs to be known to all. Medical experts, lawyers and journalists would be doing a cold, solid ice job on Kenyans if they stick to complicated medical, legal or journalistic language when talking about rights. Technical language must be broken down to make it available. If it means using sign language, vernacular or our national language, it must be done. It's Mama Mboga's right.

Purchasing women's sexual and reproductive rights

Increased research on HIV[*] has led to the discovery of ways of coping with it and many individuals who follow recommended lifestyles for people living with HIV have enjoyed active lives for a significant number of years after they found out that they were HIV-positive. The introduction of Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission (PMTCT) programs has also created opportunities for HIV-positive women to give birth to children without transmitting the virus to them. 

Yet, we are faced with instances of HIV-positive women being seduced with cash in order to give up their right to motherhood as has been seen in Kakamega, where a US-based NGO – Project Prevention – is giving HIV-positive women $40 to have an Intra-Uterine Device (IUD) inserted[†]. This coercion to give up a woman’s right to parenthood through long-term contraception with little attention given to dissemination of information is an obvious violation of women’s right to self-determination based on her HIV status, which should not be a reason for any such form of discrimination.  However, such a scenario also poses a dilemma because it creates tension between a child’s right to a decent life (since most of those who contract the virus e.g. through breastfeeding, do not live to see their 5^th birthday and/or may lose their parents to the same virus) and women’s sexual and reproductive rights (the right to choose whether to have children). Whose rights (should) override the other and who decides this? 

As we consider this dilemma/ question, what should remain clear is that women’s vulnerability due to poverty should not be used as a means to violate their sexual and reproductive rights. Both poverty and sexual and reproductive rights should be addressed in ways that first equip women with tools that enable them to make informed and independent choices free from coercion, such as through education/awareness-raising, provision of sufficient information and an overall enabling environment. Seducing HIV-positive women with cash incentives is simply an unacceptable violation of their sexual and reproductive rights, as it capitalizes on their vulnerability in the face of poverty.

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[*] Human Immunodeficiency Virus

[†] Source: http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=92696 (12^th May 2011)

Men and Reproductive Health

In common parlance, when the phrase reproductive health is mentioned, it is associated with women. Men are conveniently and ignorantly left out of the picture in an issue that concerns them as much as it concerns women. In most cases, women are left on their own to deal with the rigors of reproductive health from issues of contraceptives, pregnancy and child birth, to child rearing.

Several reasons have been advanced for this prevailing situation. Some say too much emphasis has been made by the women’s movement and policymakers on women’s reproductive health challenges and rights, resulting in women being perceived as the ones primarily concerned with reproductive health. Others say that it is possible that women have not been able or have not wanted to share the responsibilities concerned with reproductive health. This is occasioned by the fact that this is one of the areas where they feel in control in a male dominated society. Some men are also ignorant about the importance of their involvement and their taking up of responsibility in reproductive health. There is little or no education, information and advice specifically targeted at men on reproductive health[1]. 

At the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, the need for men’s involvement in sexual and reproductive health was recognized. In the Conference’s Platform for Action it stated that “...equal relationships between women and men in matters of sexual relations and reproduction, including full respect for the integrity of the person, require mutual respect, consent and shared responsibility for sexual behavior and its consequences... [2]”. Certainly men are a key factor in the full realisation of the highest standards of reproductive health in the society. Men should be involved in issues of family planning, as well as other sexual and reproductive health-related matters, such as: STIs, cancers and infertility, among others. It is imperative to encourage men to be active in ensuring that their sexual and reproductive health, and that of their partners, is up to standard.

In many regions of Kenya, both rural and urban, men still play a key role in decision-making in the family. Some of the decisions they render have an impact on them and their partners’ sexual and reproductive health. It poses a great danger if these decisions are made from a point of ignorance, misinformation or skewed advice. 

There has to be a concerted effort by the Government, NGOs and other stakeholders in the realm of sexual and reproductive health, at offering information and services targeted at both men and women. More so this advice, education, and information should be aimed at young men to enable them make informed choices on their sexual and reproductive health.

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[1] The Involvement of Men, Especially Young Men, in Reproductive Health. A 2004 report by the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Men and Women of the European People’s Party: <http://assembly.coe.int/Documents/WorkingDocs/DOC04/EDOC10207.htm>

[2] United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing 1995, Platform for Action – Women and Health (96)