It is a great pleasure today to welcome you all to this high level seminar on gender and transitional justice in Kenya. Sweden has supported these high level seminars on gender aspects through the United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM) for several years as an avenue to interrogate, discuss and map out different gender related topical issues. Sweden appreciates the efforts by UNIFEM in cooperation with RECESSPA and a great number of stakeholders in pursuing these seminars and the work undertaken thereafter. I am glad to see that civil society and authorities participate and meet.
The violent crisis which erupted in Kenya with the 2007 elections was put to an end through various efforts, not least the mediation efforts by the African Union Panel of Eminent Personalities, lead by Kofi Annan. This led to the National Accord, which established a comprehensive reform agenda. The reforms set out in the National Accord are expected to change Kenya: to create a transition from injustices causing division and conflict into a Kenya where democracy and respect for human rights create conditions for development and equality, including equality between women and men. Early this year Sweden adopted a new strategy for the cooperation with Kenya. In this strategy, support for implementation of the National Accord is at the core.
The support for timely and speedy implementation of the National Accord is also expressed through Sweden’s membership in the European Union. As Sweden is currently holding the Presidency of the European Union, I wish to recall that the EU Foreign Ministers adopted at their meeting on 27 July policy conclusions concerning Kenya. The Ministers urged Kenya’s leaders to speed up the implementation of reforms, with priority given to comprehensive constitutional reform, electoral reform, police and judicial reform.
To end impunity and ensure accountability constitute crucial elements of the transition which Kenya’s leaders and authorities have committed themselves to in response to the post-election crisis. In this regard I would like to stress the importance of police and judicial reforms. In all reform efforts, a human rights perspective as well as a gender equality perspective must be applied.
But although reforms are indispensable, Kenya’s future also depends on the ability to deal with the past. Currently, transitional justice is a topic quite often discussed in the media, at mealtimes, in religious settings and on the street. Lessons learnt elsewhere from practice of transitional justice show that to be effective, transitional justice should include several measures that complement one another. The European Union Foreign Ministers have called for the establishment of a credible, independent, constitutionally protected special tribunal to end the impunity of perpetrators of the post-election violence. I believe it is relevant to recall this position. It is also against this background that I can say that the EU recognises that a properly mandated Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) can play a role in national reconciliation. The Commission cannot, however, replace a judicial mechanism.
The debate on how to ensure reconciliation stresses the crucial role of dealing with injustices in the past, injustices which affect the present and create risks for the future.
Today’s seminar gives a possibility to examine issues of gender in transitional justice, based on protection of universal Human Rights. The importance of the gender aspect for solving and preventing conflicts is evident from standards such as the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, which calls on all actors to adopt a gender perspective, including inter alia measures to ensure the protection of, and respect for, particularly human rights of women and girls.
In order to address discrimination against women, a gender justice approach should be a central element as there are differences in how women and men enjoy human rights. The TJRC will need to address the respect of civic, political, economic, social and cultural rights on the basis of gender equality.
The Commission’s mandate provides indeed a monumental challenge: to inquire into human rights violations, including those committed by the state, groups, or individuals; major economic crimes, in particular grand corruption; illegal or irregular allocation of land; and other historical injustices and set the path to truth, justice and reconciliation for Kenyans. However, this challenge also creates an opportunity to bring to the fore the often neglected gendered effects of conflict and human rights violations.
Without attempting to be exhaustive, I would like to mention some areas where the gender aspect becomes evident: • First, unequal access to reproductive health, including lack of maternity care, but also practices such as Female Genital Mutilation. • Second, impunity by perpetrators of sexual violence is another key problem.• Third, unequal access to education opportunities as well as low completion rates of women in education which translates to the low rank where women often are found at the work place. • Four, injustices arising from laws, culture and traditions regarding women’s property rights cause further discrimination such as more difficult access for women to credit as they have no collateral. • Five, the every day reality of poverty and the expectations on women to handle that challenge. These matters are all interrelated. On the whole, poverty affects women disproportionately.
Addressing past injustices is thus critical to women’s struggle for human rights. A transition can provide an extraordinary opportunity to enhance women’s access to justice, reclaim public space and build momentum for fundamental reform. The TJRC should contribute to this. To promote such a role for the TJRC is a challenge that the civil society including faith based organisations could take up and pursue throughout the life of the commission.
I hope that today’s seminar will strengthen the attention given to gender in transforming Kenya. Sweden looks forward to continue the dialogue and cooperation with Kenya on these matters.
Thank you for your attention.
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For further information contact: Linda Widmark, Press Officer, Embassy of Sweden, phone +254 (0)20 423 4000