HAKI

Editor's Note

Francis Etenyi Owakah — 2024-06-22

Editorial comments on the second issue of the journal

Dilemmas in Media Coverage of Human Rights in Kenya

James Caesar Oranga — 2024-06-22

Media practitioners and entities play an essential role in enabling human beings to enjoy the rights enshrined in article 19 of universal declaration of human rights, and
interrelated human rights. However, as moral agents they are bound to be occasionally in dilemmas in the process of undertaking their duties. Cognizant of
the fact that social, political, economic and moral environments varies, this study, examines the various kinds of dilemmas that media practitioners and media entities
face and deal with in Kenya. The study used Kurt Lewin’s gatekeeping theory, which was adopted by Barzilai-Nahon. A qualitative approach with descriptive
research design was employed with data being sourced from Kenya’s four largest media enterprises, namely the Nation Media Group, the Standard Group, Mediamax
and Radio Africa Limited. Through purposive sampling, the study targeted respondents who had gatekeeping capability and experience in reporting or editing
stories on human rights. Four kinds of dilemmas were found to be prevalent: ownership interests versus public interests; advertisers’ commercial interests versus
public welfare; government interests versus professional obligations; and societal moral values versus journalistic responsibility. An interesting from the study was
that the media practitioners’ ethnic, religious, and moral identity were the genesis of these dilemmas. From these, the authors concluded that whereas these dilemmas
cripple media practitioners’ capacity to undertake their duties that are crucial to human beings’ enjoyment of the right to be informed and to knowledge, and
attendant rights, in many cases the might of media owners and government, advertisers’ interests prevailed. Finally, the study recommends critical and creative
strategies for avoiding horns of dilemmas by retraining the media practitioners who cover issues of human rights on the protection and promotion of human rights.

Mount Elgon Armed Conflict and Violation of Women’s Rights, 2004-2008

David Neville Masika — 2024-06-22

Since time in memorial, war atrocities have been seen as mass violations of human rights affecting all members of the society, regardless of their gender, age and ethnicity. Women however, are the most vulnerable to all forms of such violations. They are victims of various forms of violence. The aim of the paper is to document violations of human rights directed at women in the Mount Elgon armed conflict of 2004 to 2008. The SLDF-led war in Mount Elgon brought atrocities and massive suffering to the general population of the region. Just like other armed conflicts around the world most of the victims of human rights violations were women. Although some research has been conducted on land conflict in Mount Elgon, emergence of SLDF militia group attacks on members of the Mosop and other communities, and counter forces led by MLDF and finally entry of the military under the operation code, Operation Okoa Maisha, very little has been researched on how all these operations violated women rights. This study argues that the scale of crimes committed against women during Mount Elgon armed conflict still lacks precise and reliable data on exact cases. In this paper, the authors argue that during the Mount Elgon armed conflict innumerable women of all ages, and even children, were subjected to outrages of the worst kind. They were subjected to rape committed by actors, brutal treatment of every sort, mutilations of their body parts, displacement from their socio-economic life and other forms of violations of their rights.

Challenges of Persistence of Witchcraft in East Africa:

Peter Mumo — 2024-09-05

In recent history, there have been reported cases of hunting, lynching and killing of suspected witches in East Africa. The situation is so dire that it constitutes insecurity and gross violation of human rights. Loss of innocent lives, maiming of suspects and loss of property has brought fear and despondency among the aged who are the major targets of witch-hunting. Due to the materialistic nature of contemporary Eastern African societies, individuals driven by greed the desire to grab other people’s land, family feuds, patriarchy, climate change, drought, poverty and jealousy have all contributed to loss of life and property. Human rights promoters have advocated for severe punishment for the perpetrators. The legal process of proving witchcraft is difficult and complicated since this practice is mired in secrecy where the courts rely on evidence for conviction. In this article I argue that the challenges of dealing with the persistence of witchcraft are enormous since witchcraft is both a religious and human rights concern. Witchcraft being a part of African traditional religious beliefs can only be addressed by understanding its religious foundations and then dealing with its implications in contemporary society. I conclude by holding the view that to eradicate witchcraft and witch hunting requires legal, religious and social interventions.

Evaluating The Awareness of Women’s Rights among Barmaids in Kenya

Shadrack Kitheka Ndunga — 2024-06-22

This paper is based on a study titled Examination of Human Rights Awareness and Knowledge among Barmaids in Mathare Sub County in Nairobi County .In today's
society, educated women have the power to safeguard themselves against abuse and discrimination, thus fostering promotion of human rights. However, there many
others still unaware of their human rights and protective mechanisms. In this paper, we evaluate human rights awareness among barmaids in Mathare Sub County,
Kenya. Human rights are important because no one should be discriminated against and because everyone should have the opportunity to develop their talents. Sadly,
many barmaids in Kenya do not have knowledge of these basic rights and freedoms. Human rights indicators are essential in the implementation of human rights
standards and commitments, to support policy formulation, impact assessment and transparency. The paper focuses on barmaids, a marginalized group of women who
face unique challenges in their workplace. A descriptive survey design was used with 88 barmaids from 59 bars and clubs being sampled. The study established no
correlation between demographic factors like age, education level, and length of service and human rights awareness like the right to health care, emergency medical
attention, political participation, the right to life, economic and social rights, equality and freedom from discrimination, the right to be free from arbitrary arrest,
and due process in court and before administrative bodies, as denoted by X (4, N = 81) = 1.28, P =.86, X 2 (5, N = 81) = 1.69, P =.89, and X 2 (3, N = 81) = 2.9, P =.41respectively. The study concluded that human rights awareness and knowledge are essential for providing barmaids with a safe and equitable workplace. However, barmaids face abuse and discrimination due to their limited understanding of avenues available for the justiciability of economic, social and cultural rights. While the debate in the wider society on the justiciability of these rights is largely irrelevant, it is worrying that a section of society still lacks knowledge of how their human rights should be enforced and secured. The lack of this knowledge has largely been blamed for human rights violations in Africa.