Uddrag af omtalen af programsamarbejdslandet Kenya i det amerikanske udenrigsministeriums årsrapport 2004 om menneskerettighedernes stilling verden over.
The peaceful political transition in December 2002 provided Kenyans and the international community with hope that the new government headed by Mwai Kibaki would enact meaningful reforms, tackling corruption, drafting a new constitution and re-energizing the economy.
These hopes have been only partially fulfilled. The Government has passed anti-corruption legislation and removed some allegedly corrupt judges, but no senior officials have been prosecuted for corruption.
The constitutional review process is mired in political in-fighting, unemployment is close to 50 percent and more than one-half of all Kenyans continue to live on less than 1 dollar a day.
Despite some progress, Kenyas human rights record remains poor in many areas. The Government continues to restrict freedom of speech and assembly on occasion.
The non-military security forces continue to inflict torture and physical violence on detainees; some police officers have recently been arrested and accused of torture. Female genital mutilation, child labor and trafficking in persons also continue to be problems.
The U.S. human rights and democracy strategy consisted of strengthening electoral processes, rule of law, civil society and media, combating corruption and resolving conflict.
There were no politically motivated arrests during 2003.
Another component of the U.S. democracy and human rights strategy in Kenya is strengthening the rule of law. A key objective is the adoption of a new constitution (to replace the 1963 constitution) that includes a better balance of authority among the executive, legislative and judicial branches and provides for devolution of authority to sub-national units of government.
President Bush raised constitutional reform with President Kibaki during the latters October visit to the United States, and Secretary of State Powell followed up during his October visit to Kenya.
On March 16, 2004, the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission adopted a new draft constitution. However, the Kibaki government walked out of the deliberations in protest over its content, portending the likelihood of a vituperative debate in parliament over the constitutions adoption.
Prior to 2003, the U.S. rule of law program in Kenya was limited to supporting civil society organizations, which has been critical to enhancing support for rule of law initiatives.
In 2003, the United States continued to assist civil society organizations. The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) has been working for the past three years under a 225.000 dollar USAID grant.
In 2003, ICJ utilized public perceptions of the Kenyan judiciary as a lobbying tool to advocate for the removal of corrupt judges in the country and for reform of the judicial system. The Federation of Women Lawyers received a USAID grant for 144.000 dollar to work toward improving the legislative and policy framework for womens rights.
In addition to support to civil society, and in light of the new governments commitment to strengthening the rule of law, the United States began providing direct financial assistance to the Government in 2003.
Initial support assisted Kenya in developing its five-year strategy for improving the rule of law. USAID has also aided several grantees to develop programs of assistance for torture and trauma victims.
In 2003, the United States also provided assistance to help strengthen the Kenyan parliament, in particular parliaments committee system, its capacity for analysis, investigation and decision-making, and its links with civil society.
Now in its third year of implementation, the program strengthens parliamentarians ability to effectively represent the will of the Kenyan people, participate in policy reform and serve as a check on the executive. This program was complemented by grants to civil society organizations, which provided technical assistance and research to parliamentarians.
Prior to this U.S. program, the Kenyan parliament was seen as a rubber stamp. It now acts more independently and is increasingly serving as a check on the executive.
A closely related U.S. objective is helping Kenya make further progress in the fight against corruption. In 2003, the Government passed two anti-corruption bills, one that sets rules for transparency and accountability and another that requires certain public officials to declare their wealth and that of their spouses.
Another bill designed to tackle corruption in procurement has been introduced. The presidency created a new office under a permanent secretary to spearhead the fight against corruption and, in May 2003, the Minister of Finance fired all procurement officers in public offices.
A complementary public service integrity program was established to improve management practices in public offices and a commission of inquiry was established to investigate corruption involving export compensation scandals in the early 1990s.
U.S. strategy in support of this anti-corruption initiative focused in large part on support to civil society. A USAID grant to Transparency Internationals Kenya (TI/K) chapter, totaling 494.700 dollar, was in its fourth year of implementation.
Key elements of the grant include conducting research to provide benchmarks of integrity and efficiency in public organizations, increasing public awareness of corruption and serving as a secretariat for the African Parliamentarians Network against Corruption.
Similarly, the Center for Governance and Development (CGD) was in the second year of a two-year 250.000 dollar USAID grant to address corruption and bad governance in Kenya by working with the Parliament and stakeholders to help draft legislation to further the democratic process.
CGD monitored developments in various economic sectors to ensure that new legislation addressing corruption was implemented effectively.
TI/K and CGD efforts were instrumental in the enactment of recent anti-corruption legislation, including the Economic Crimes and Anti-Corruption Act and the Public Officers Ethics Act, as well as key regulatory changes that promoted transparency in the conduct of the elections.
USAID also obligated approximately 1,5 million dollar to support the Government directly in its anti-corruption initiative. USAID supported the newly created Office of the Presidents Department of Ethics and Governance by helping develop a system for recording and analyzing assets disclosure forms.
The United States supported the creation of a Public Complaints officer that would allow the private sector to report corruption-related issues and problems and that would promote transparency and accountability in the private sector.
A component of the training provided by the U.S. Defense Resource Management Institute to 33 senior Kenyan military officers in 2003 stressed the importance of managing defense resources as a public trust, rather than a personal kitty.
Despite these efforts, Kenyan courts have yet to convict key personalities involved in corruption and U.S. businesses remain wary about investing in the country.
The embassys Public Affairs Section (PAS) supports press freedom and other democracy and human rights objectives with a number of its annual programs (budgeted at more than 700.000 dollar with additional support from Washington bureaus).
The PAS Information Resource Center featured outreach projects on responsible media, U.S. courts, trafficking in persons and state and local government. PAS has also been urging the new Kenyan Government to create a press spokesmans office to help articulate government policy and field requests for access to government information.
Another component of U.S. strategy is to ensure that the Kenyan security forces remain apolitical and not commit human rights abuses.
To this end, the State and Defense Departments, through the International Military Education and Training program, provided training in the United States in 2003 to four Kenyan military officers; the training included observations of how the U.S. military operated apolitically in a democratic country.
In addition, the Defense Institute for International Legal Studies provided training in Kenya to 40 mid-grade and senior Kenyan military officers in military law and legal systems.
Also in 2003, the Embassys Regional Security Office sponsored seven training courses for 225 Kenyan security personnel in anti-terrorism and law enforcement. All seven courses included classes in how human rights and international law pertain to arrest and detention.
Although political and ethnic violence has decreased in Kenya, inter-communal violence occasionally crosses borders with Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia.
To this end, the government has been helping warring factions in Sudan and Somalia resolve their differences and has been working to promote national unity within the context of non-ethnically based political diversity.
Within its conflict management program, USAIDs Regional Office in Kenya supported the Addis Ababa-based Conflict Early Warning and Response Mechanism (CEWARN). CEWARN is a protocol among member countries of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development that was signed in 2002 and made effective in 2003.
USAID and CEWARN activities in Kenya have focused on building capacity among government and non-governmental organizations to address conflict in the Karamoja cluster, the cross-border area of Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda, and in the Somali cluster, the cross-border area of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.
Three further grants were awarded in 2003 to grassroots organizations in Kenya. These awards targeted improvements in the legal and human rights of young women slum dwellers in Nairobi, Maasai women in southern Kenya and Muslim women in Nairobi.
The State Departments Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor drew upon the Human Rights and Democracy Fund to support a womens political empowerment project which equipped women candidates in Kenya with the skills necessary to run effective political campaigns.
Another focus of U.S. attention was on labor practices.
In the final year of a three-year 200.061 dollar grant for labor law reform funded by the U.S. Labor Departments Bureau of International Labor Affairs, the International Labor Organization (ILO) continued the assessment and revision of Kenyas labor law to bring it into full conformity with the principles of the ILO and the African Growth and Opportunity Act and to address issues such as child labor, discrimination and civil service reform.
Sensitization of parliamentarians and other stakeholders on the need for the new law began in 2003. Another DHRF grant was for the re-registration of the civil service union following a 20-year ban. In 2003, the union organized 15.000 of its potential 40.000 members and began to lobby for civil servant rights.
In 2003, Kenya was in the final year of a three-year 4,743.658 dollar East Africa regional project with ILOs International Program for the Elimination of Child Labor to identify, withdraw and rehabilitate approximately 7.500 children working under hazardous conditions on plantations and to provide families with viable alternatives to child labor.
To complement this program, the World Bank with U.S. support has given Kenya a 50 million dollar grant to support its free primary education project, making it easier for families to choose school over work
Kilde: Det amerikanske udenrigsministerium
