The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights under the 2010 Constitutional Dispensation

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-226
Author(s):  
Bonolo Ramadi Dinokopila ◽  
Rhoda Igweta Murangiri

This article examines the transformation of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) and discusses the implications of such transformation on the promotion and protection of human rights in Kenya. The article is an exposition of the powers of the Commission and their importance to the realisation of the Bill of Rights under the 2010 Kenyan Constitution. This is done from a normative and institutional perspective with particular emphasis on the extent to which the UN Principles Relating to the Status of National Institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles, 1993) have been complied with. The article highlights the role of national human rights commissions in transformative and/or transitional justice in post-conflict Kenya. It also explores the possible complementary relationship(s) between the KNCHR and other Article 59 Commissions for the better enforcement of the bill of rights.

2020 ◽  
pp. 268-288
Author(s):  
Dawnie Steadman ◽  
Sarah Wagner

This chapter explores the evolving role of forensic genetics in human rights investigations and as a technology of postmortem identification for missing persons in ongoing conflict and post-conflict societies. How has DNA’s increasingly privileged place as a line of evidence impacted the field in terms of both medico-legal standards and heightened expectations among surviving kin and their communities? Drawing on interviews with leading figures in the field of forensic science and human rights/transitional justice (e.g., the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Equipo Argentino de Antropología Forense, and the Colibrí Center for Human Rights), buttressed by ethnographic analysis of exhumation and identification efforts in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Uganda, the chapter provides an overview and commentary about the technology’s complicated place in unearthing truths and effecting repair.


Yurispruden ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 119
Author(s):  
Arasy Pradana A Azis

ABSTRACTThe Reformation then became a momentum for improving the issues of upholding human rights in Indonesia, where human rights matters formally entered into the division of power. On the one hand, for the first time, a ministry was formed specifically to deal with human rights matters. While outside the executive body, Law No. 39 of 1999 strengthens the position of the National Commission of Human Rights which has actually been established since 1993. This phenomenon then raises a problem statement, on how bureaucratization of human rights after Reformation is manifested through the establishment of the National Human Rights Commission and the Ministry of Human Rights. It was found that each institution gained legitimacy from political dynamics in a more democratic public space. Between the state ministries for human rights and the National Commission of Human Rights, the principle of check and balances was carried out in their role as an organ of the Indonesian bureaucracy. On the one hand, the state minister for human rights is an extension of the executive's hand in managing human rights matters. As a counterweight, the National Human Rights Commission carries out the role of the state auxiliary bodies to monitor the government’s human rights work.Keywords:    Politic of Law, Bureaucratization, Human Rigths, Ministry of Law and Human Rights Affairs, National Commission of Human Rights. ABSTRAKPeristiwa Reformasi menjadi momentum perbaikan urusan penegakan HAM di Indonesia, di mana urusan HAM secara formal masuk ke dalam pembagian kekuasaan negara. Di satu sisi, untuk pertama kalinya dibentuk satu kementerian yang secara khusus menangani urusan HAM. Sementara di luar lembaga eksekutif, Undang-Undang Nomor 39 Tahun 1999 menguatkan kedudukan Komisi Nasional Hak Asasi Manusia yang sejatinya telah terbentuk sejak tahun 1993. Fenomena ini kemudian menimbulkan satu rumusan permasalahan, yaitu bagaimana birokratisasi urusan HAM pasca reformasi termanifestasi melalui pembentukan Komnas HAM dan kementerian urusan HAM. Ditemukan bahwa masing-masing lembaga memperoleh legitimasi dari dinamika politik di ruang publik yang lebih demokratis. Antara kementerian negara urusan HAM dan Komnas HAM kemudian menjalankan prinsip check and balances dalam menjalankan perannya sebagai organ birokrasi Indonesia. Di satu sisi, kementerian negara urusan HAM merupakan perpanjangan tangan eksekutif untuk mengurus urusan HAM. Sebagai penyeimbang, Komnas HAM menjalankan peran sebagai state auxiliary bodies guna mengawasi kinerja HAM pemerintah.Kata Kunci: Politik Hukum, Birokratisasi, Hak Asasi Manusia, Kementerian Urusan HAM, Komnas HAM.


2020 ◽  
pp. 52-61
Author(s):  
Joshua N. Aston

This chapter deals with the policing system in India, the police acts and various other related acts enforced in the country, and the status of human rights of the accused or the person in detention. There have been frequent incidents of violation of human rights and complaints against the use of torture, third-degree methods, illegal detention, custodial deaths, assaults, and fake encounters, which have been reported by the media. There are numerous instances of reported custodial crimes and terrible cases of the use of third-degree methods, harassment, and misuse of power, position, and authority. This chapter discusses such serious violations of human rights of the accused and imprisoned by way of arrest, third-degree methods, unwarranted summoning of people/suspects to the police station, and various other custodial crimes. The chapter also discusses the provision of bail in non-bailable offences and handcuffing in the country. It highlights the role of the National Human Rights Commission and its relation with the police system and upholding of human rights.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Julian Sarkin

This article explores how conditional amnesties can assist post-conflict societies to recover truth. It examines how such amnesties can be used optimally to achieve the best results as part of transitional justice mechanisms. Thus, a central question is to see how amnesties can be used for truth recovery purposes. For that reason, the status and role of amnesties, and whether such amnesties can be used to learn more about the past and assist in truth recovery is explored. The article explores what amnesties are, how prevalent they are and how amnesties can be used optimally to achieve the best results. An issue that is also explored is whether amnesties are needed for perpetrators to participate in transitional justice mechanisms. The argument that is made, in this regard, is that amnesty is absolutely necessary to persuade perpetrators to testify. If they do not have such legal protection, perpetrators fear the legal consequences that may result if they admit to crimes for which they have not been charged. Another question that is examined concerns whether amnesties, and specifically conditional amnesties, pass international law muster. This article therefore investigates the continual and extensive use of amnesty to determine whether a conditional amnesty violates international law. The article suggests how a conditional amnesty process could be structured and what difficulties such a process should avoid if perpetrators are to enter such a process.


1988 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-46
Author(s):  
Justice Michael Kirby

AbstractIn this paper, the author deals with the "role" of judges in "advancing" human rights. He cautions that the needs of different countries will vary. He starts with a reference to the recent failure of Judge Robert Bork to secure confirmation to the Supreme Court of the United States. Bork had been a long time proponent of judicial restraint in the interpretation of the Bill of Rights, urging that protection of human rights should normally be left to the democratically accountable branches of government - the executive and the legislature. After reviewing the theoretical and practical arguments for and against judicial restraint, the author states his own conclusions. These are that, especially where there is a constitutional charter of rights and particularly in common law countries, judges have an inescapable function in developing the law. Their decisions necessarily advance their view of human rights. In human rights cases, they may nowadays receive assistance from international statements of human rights and the jurisprudence developing around such statements. The author appeals for an international approach but acknowledges that this will be difficult for lawyers, traditionally jurisdiction bound. But he warns that there are limits to the activism of the judiciary in controversial human rights cases. Judges themselves do well to recognise these limits both for their legitimacy and their effectiveness. An important modern challenge to the judiciary is that of resolving this dilemma between the pressures for restraint and the urgency of action.


2008 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 206
Author(s):  
Linda C. Reif

National Human Rights i nstitutions [NHRIs] are created by “a Government under the constitution, or by law or decree, the functions of which are specifically designed in terms of the promotion and protection of human rights.” Human rights commissions, ombudsman i nstitutions, hybrid single-office holder human rights ombudsman/commissioners, and specialized i nstitutions such as the children’s ombudsman are types of NHRIs.


2021 ◽  
pp. 106
Author(s):  
NINA KARPACHOVA

The article examines the genesis of the institution of the Ombudsman of Ukraine – the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights. The role of the Ombudsman is shown both in protecting the rights of individuals as well as in overcoming the systemic violations of human rights. The essence of modern challenges to human rights and freedoms is revealed: poverty, migration, human trafficking, modern terrorism, sea piracy, armed conflicts, wars, humanitarian disasters, dehumanization of society. The activity of the First Ombudsman of Ukraine on bringing the legislation of Ukraine and law enforcement practice in line with European and international human rights standards is analyzed. The need to form a modern legal culture based on international standards in the field of human rights and freedoms and the rule of law is analyzed. The article investigates monitoring mechanism of the national human rights institution performed through the Annual and Special Reports to the national Parliament. It also reveals forms of cooperation of the Ombudsman of Ukraine with national, international and European structures in the field of human rights. It is shown that not only the institution of the Ombudsman, in terms of its legal status, should be independent in the spirit of the Paris Principles, but the person in this post should also have personal independence. There are shown ways to establishing peace through the search for compromises and a trustful dialogue between the authorities and society. The innovation of the article is the analysis of the Ombudsman institution as a mechanism for the extrajudicial protection of human rights in the context of modern challenges to human rights and freedoms. A new term is introduced into scientific circulation – “the case law of the Ombudsman”.


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