Kenya
Mine Ban Policy
Policy
The Republic of Kenya signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 5 December 1997 and ratified it on 23 January 2001, becoming a State Party on 1 July 2001. Kenya has been reporting that national legislation was in progress since 2004.[1]
From 28 November to 3 December 2004, Kenya hosted the First Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty, also known as the Nairobi Summit on a Mine-Free World.
As of October 2011, Kenya had not submitted its annual Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report due on 30 April 2011.[2] The last time Kenya submitted an Article 7 report was in 2008.
Kenya did not attend the Tenth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Geneva in November–December 2010 or the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in June 2011.
Kenya is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Production, transfer, stockpiling, and retention
Kenya has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines. In August 2003, Kenya’s military destroyed its stockpile of 35,774 antipersonnel mines, far ahead of its treaty-mandated deadline of 1 July 2005.[3]
In its 2008 Article 7 report, Kenya cited a total of 3,000 antipersonnel mines retained for training purposes.[4] This is the same number it has cited in previous Article 7 reports. However, at the April 2007 Standing Committee meetings, Kenya reported that the number of retained mines stood at 2,460 “after using 540 APMs for the provided purposes.”[5] It is not known if the total of 3,000 retained mines in the February 2008 report indicates an unexplained increase back to 3,000, or if it is an error.[6]
[1] In 2008, Kenya stated, “Legislation for domestication of land mine ban treaty to follow.” Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form A, February 2008. In November 2007, Kenya assured States Parties that it “is committed to fulfill her [treaty] responsibilities including that of domestication of the instrument.” Earlier, Kenya reported that the Attorney General’s office drafted national implementation legislation and sent it to the Office of the President for approval in June 2005. Parliament reportedly approved the preparation of national implementation legislation on 9 December 2004.
[2] Kenya has submitted five previous Article 7 reports: in February 2008 (covering the period from 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007); 1 April 2005; 31 March 2004; 4 June 2002; and 27 December 2001. Kenya did not submit a report in 2006, 2009, 2010, or 2011.
[3] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Forms B and D, 1 April 2005. See Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p. 322, for details of the types of mines, which were obtained from Belgium, Israel and the United Kingdom.
[4] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form D, February 2008. The 3,000 mines include: 700 each of No. 4, No. 12 and No. 409 mines, 500 No. 6 mines and 400 NR PRB mines.
[5] “Kenya’s Progress on Aspects of Articles 3 and 5,” Standing Committee on the General Status and Operation of the Convention, Mine Ban Treaty, Geneva, 27 April 2007. It stated that the mines were used for training in detection, clearance and destruction techniques at training institutions, and were consumed during “humanitarian demining and EODs; demolition/destruction practical exercises; mine awareness training to peacekeeping contingents deployed to various missions.”
[6] Prior to the 2007 statement, Kenya had, since its initial declaration in 2001, consistently reported a total of 3,000 mines retained, suggesting that no mines had been consumed (destroyed) during training activities. However, in June 2006, an official at the International Mine Action Training Centre (IMATC) told the Monitor that it was using antipersonnel mines provided by the Kenyan Army for its training activities, and that the mines were being consumed during the training courses. Interview with Lt. Col. Tim Wildish, Commandant, International Mine Action Training Centre, Nairobi, 6 June 2006.
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions
Convention on Cluster Munitions status |
Signatory |
Participation in Convention on Cluster Munitions meetings |
Attended First Meeting of States Parties in Vientiane, Lao PDR in November 2010 |
Key developments |
Ratification process underway |
Policy
The Republic of Kenya signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008.
In November 2010, Kenya said that ratification of the convention was with the Attorney General’s office.[1] In October 2009, Kenya first reported that the ratification document drafted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had been forwarded to the Attorney General’s office for legal consideration.[2] Ratification in Kenya requires approval by the Cabinet.[3]
Kenya participated in the Oslo Process that created the convention and worked to achieve a strong convention text during the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008.[4] Since 2008, Kenya has continued to engage in the work of the convention. Kenya participated in the First Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Vientiane, Lao PDR in November 2010, but did not attend the convention’s first intersessional meetings in Geneva in June 2011.
During the general debate of the First Committee at the UN in October 2010, Kenya described the Convention on Cluster Munitions as “a significant milestone in international humanitarian law” that “seeks to ensure a more humane and safer world” and urged states that have not yet done so to join.[5]
Kenya is a party to the Mine Ban Treaty, but not the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Kenya is not believed to have ever used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions. It is, however, reported to possess Grad 122mm surface-to-surface rockets, but it is not known if these include versions with submunition payloads.[6]
[1] CMC meeting with the Kenyan delegation, First Meeting of States Parties, Convention on Cluster Munitions, Vientiane, 9–12 November 2010. Notes by the CMC.
[2] CMC meeting with Salim Mohamed Salim, Second Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Kenya to the UN in New York, 14 October 2009. Notes by the CMC.
[3] Statement of Kenya, Africa Regional Conference on the Universalization and Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Pretoria, 25 March 2010, notes by Action on Armed Violence; and CMC meeting with delegation of Kenya, International Conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Santiago, 7–9 June 2010, notes by the CMC. The delegation said Parliamentary approval was not required.
[4] For detail on Kenya’s policy and practice regarding cluster munitions through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 102–103.
[5] Statement of Kenya, General Debate of the First Committee of the 65th General Assembly, New York, 18 October 2010, www.reachingcriticalwill.org.
[6] International Institute for Strategic Studies, The Military Balance 2011 (London: Routledge, 2011), p. 429.
Casualties and Victim Assistance
Casualties
In July 2010, three boys were injured by a mine in North Pokot district, along the Kenya-Uganda border.[1]
The Monitor identified 83 mine/explosive remnants of war casualties between 1999 and the end of 2010 (25 killed; 58 injured).[2] Figures are likely incomplete, as there is no systematic casualty data collection mechanism in Kenya.
[1] “Kenya: suspected LRA landmines seriously injure 3 Kenyans at border,” Alshahid Network, 21 July 2010, english.alshahid.net.
[2] ICBL, Landmine Monitor Report 2004: Toward a Mine-Free World (New York: Human Rights Watch, October 2004), www.the-monitor.org; ICBL, Landmine Monitor Report 2006: Toward a Mine-Free World (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, July 2006), www.the-monitor.org; ICBL, Landmine Monitor Report 2008: Toward a Mine-Free World (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, October 2008), www.the-monitor.org; and ICBL, Landmine Monitor Report 2009: Toward a Mine-Free World (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, October 2009), www.the-monitor.org.