UN Human Rights Council to Examine the Record of Kenya

UN Council to Examine Kenya’s Human Rights Record

The human rights record of Kenya will be examined by the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group for a record fourth time.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that the review will happen on May 1, 2025, in a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland that will be webcast live.

OHCHR is the leading United Nations (UN) entity in the field of human rights, with a unique mandate to promote and protect all human rights for all people.

Kenya is notably one of 14 states to be reviewed by the UPR Working Group during its upcoming session from April 28 to May 9, 2025.

The first, second and third UPR reviews of Kenya took place in May 2010, January 2015 and January 2020, respectively.

The UPR Working Group is comprised of the 47 member states of the Human Rights Council. The UPR, on the other hand, is a peer review of the human rights records of all 193 UN member states.

Each of the 193 UN member states can participate in a country review.

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Kenya’s human rights record to be examined by the Universal Periodic Review

The documents on which the reviews are based include a national report, which comprises information provided by the State under review.

Information contained in the reports of independent human rights experts and groups, known as the special procedures, human rights treaty bodies, and other UN entities, will also be reviewed.

In addition, information provided by other stakeholders, including national human rights institutions, regional organisations, and civil society groups, will be reviewed.

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Since the first UPR meeting was held in April 2008, all 193 UN member states have been reviewed thrice.

During the fourth UPR cycle, States are again expected to spell out steps they have taken to implement recommendations posed during their previous reviews, which they committed to follow up on and highlight recent human rights developments in the country.

The delegation of Kenya will be led by Attorney General Dorcas Agik Oduor.

The three country representatives serving as rapporteurs (“troika”) for the review of Kenya are Georgia, Kuwait and Morocco.

In addition, the UPR Working Group is scheduled to adopt the recommendations made to Kenya on Wednesday, 7 May 2025.

“The state under review may wish to express its positions on recommendations posed to it during its review,” notes OHCHR.

UNHRC membership

Kenya was elected a member of the Human Rights Council in October 2024 in a session presided over by the President of the 79th session of the General Assembly, Philemon Yang. The East African nation’s membership will be for a 3-year term.

The successful bid followed a strong opposition from human rights bodies in the country, who had attempted to block the appointment on the grounds that the ruling administration failed to uphold human rights.

Then, the groups cited human rights violations such as extrajudicial killings, abductions, and enforced disappearances by police.

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