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
Policy
The Republic of Kenya signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008.
The exact status of Kenya’s ratification of the convention is not known, but the process was not believed to be under consideration by the national parliament as of June 2014. Kenya has made regular, but vague, statements with respect to its ratification of the convention. In September 2013, it informed States Parties that the ratification “is under consideration.”[1] In May 2012, Kenya informed a regional meeting that the ratification is “ongoing.”[2] In September 2011, Kenya said the ratification process was in the consultation phase.[3] In 2009 and 2010, it stated that the ratification process was being considered by the Attorney General’s office.[4]
In September 2013, Kenya informed States Parties that it promulgated a new constitution in 2010, which “provides that international treaties which Kenya has ratified form part of the national law.” This confirms Kenya’s previous statement, made in September 2012, that specific national implementation legislation for the Convention on Cluster Munitions is unnecessary because, under the constitution, an international treaty automatically becomes part of domestic law when it is ratified.[5]
Kenya participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and worked to achieve a strong convention text during the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008.[6]
Despite the lack of ratification, Kenya has continued to engage in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention, including the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013, where it made a statement during the general exchange of views. Kenya has never attended the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva, such as those held in April 2014.
Kenya has not condemned the Syrian government’s use of cluster munitions.
Kenya is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Kenya is not known to have ever used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions. It is reported to possess Grad 122mm surface-to-surface rockets, but it is not known if these include versions with submunition payloads.[7]
[1] Statement of Kenya, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Lusaka, 11 September 2013.
[2] Statement of Kenya, Accra Regional Conference on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Accra, 28 May 2012.
[3] Statement of Kenya, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 14 September 2011.
[4] CMC meeting with the Kenyan delegation, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Meeting of States Parties, Vientiane, 9–12 November 2010. Notes by the CMC; CMC meeting with Salim Mohamed Salim, Second Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Kenya to the UN in New York, New York, 14 October 2009. Notes by the CMC.
[5] Statement of Kenya, Convention on Cluster Munitions Third Meeting of States Parties, Oslo, 12 September 2012. Notes by the CMC.
[6] For details 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.
[7] International Institute for Strategic Studies, The Military Balance 2011 (London: Routledge, 2011), p. 429.
Casualties and Victim Assistance
Casualties
Casualties Overview
|
All known casualties by end 2013 |
1,130 mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties (44 killed; 1,086 injured) |
|
Casualties in 2013 |
0 (2012: 1) |
|
2013 casualties by outcome |
0 injured (2012:1 killed) |
In 2013, in the Republic of Kenya, no mine/ERW casualties were identified.[1] In 2012, a British World War II-era bomb killed a six year-old boy.[2] In 2011, 29 new mine/ERW casualties were identified in Kenya, including 22 children.[3]
The Monitor has identified 1,130 mine/ERW casualties in Kenya between 1999 and the end of 2012 (44 people killed and 1,086 injured).[4] Casualty figures are likely incomplete because there is no systematic casualty data collection mechanism in Kenya. In 2002, the British Ministry of Defense paid compensation to 1,046 people reportedly injured by unexploded ordnance from training areas used by the British Army.[5]
Victim Assistance
The total number of survivors is unknown, but is at least 1,090 (1,046 reported through the British compensation claims process and 44 survivors identified by the Monitor in 2003–2013). Mine/ERW survivors receive the same services as other persons with disabilities.
Access to services for persons with disabilities remained limited.[6]
Kenya ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 19 May 2008.
[1] An incident occurred in the Dagahaley area within Dadaab refugee camp in December 2013 that was referred to as involving a landmine. The means of detonation was not indicated and the resulting casualties have not been included in the annual total. “Four police officers injured in landmine explosion,” Daily Nation, 30 December 2013; “Four police officers injured in Dadaab landmine explosion,” Standard Media, 30 December 2013.
[2] “Fishermen discover live bombs in Lake Victoria,” News24, 7 May 2012; and “Deaths and injuries caused by unexploded World War II bombs left by British soldiers is a menace around Lake Victoria,” Jaluo, 29 March 2012. Both reports mention additional casualties but provide insufficient details and so were not included. In addition, throughout 2012 casualties continued from suspected command-detonated devices targeting security forces’ vehicles at the border with Somalia. Since the Monitor only records victim-activated explosive casualties, these casualties have not been included in the annual total. Monitor media monitoring 1 January 2012 to 31 December 2012.
[3] Monitor media monitoring 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2011.
[4] ICBL, Landmine Monitor Report 2004: Toward a Mine-Free World (New York: Human Rights Watch, October 2004); ICBL, Landmine Monitor Report 2006: Toward a Mine-Free World (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada: July 2006); ICBL, Landmine Monitor Report 2008: Toward a Mine-Free World (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada: October 2008); ICBL, Landmine Monitor Report 2009: Toward a Mine-Free World (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada: October 2009).
[5] Telephone interview with Col. John Steed, British High Commission, 25 March 2009.
[6] United States Department of State, “2011 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Kenya,” Washington, DC, 24 June 2012.