Amnesty International Kenya held the State of Freedoms and Rights in the 2023 Conference on September 30, 2023, at the United States International University (USIU), Nairobi. The event brought together various stakeholders from academia, government, the human rights sector, and international development space to dissect the status of freedoms and rights in 2023.
The session was divided into two panels: a plenary and a networking session. The panelists included Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK Chief Executive Director; Yussuf Hassan, MP for Kamukunji and Chairperson of the Parliamentary Caucus for Democracy and Human Rights; Dr. Lola Odubekun, Interim Vice Chancellor, USIU-Africa; Li Fung, Senior Human Rights Advisor to the UN Resident Coordinator in Kenya; and Sheila Masinde, Executive Director of Transparency International Kenya (TI-Kenya).
The conversations centered on the power of human rights campaigns in holding duty bearers accountable, discrimination faced by refugees in advocating for their rights, and the inadequacy of judicial officers to hear and determine cases of human rights violations.
The event also marked the launch of Amnesty International Kenya’s Strategic Framework to guide human rights advocacy work.
