Within the SDC co-funded RAISE project, under Fastenaktion lead, VSF-Suisse is with the Centre for Minority Rights Development (CEMIRIDE) in Kenya. Nyang’ori Ohenjo, co-founder and currently Team Lead of CEMIRIDE, was invited to provide a statement on 18 February 2025, within the United Nations’ Human Rights Council’s review of Kenya in Geneva. Every country undergoes Universal Periodic Review (UPR) every 5 years. The UPR is organized in a way for Civil Society / NGOs to contribute with their assessment of the Human Rights Situation in a given country. This happens via so-called presessions, as has taken place on 18 February for Kenya. The RAISE project focuses on the Right to Food, also within the UPR process.
Nyang’ori took some time to share with us how he became engaged for the right to food and right to land, the RAISE project’ s achievements and the importance of strong engagement frameworks to support indigenous communities.
Hello Nyang’ori, can you say a few words about yourself and what you do?
I am Nyang’ori Ohenjo and I was born in 1971. I trained first as a teacher and later became a journalist. What always motivated me to teaching and journalism was the strong desire to contribute to change, people’s development and to improving people’s lives.
While working as a journalist, we had a conversation with a friend, Korir Sing’oei, on how best to support the protections of the rights of minorities in Kenya. A former school mate, and friend, Adam Hussein Adam, from the Nubian community, had experienced discrminations based on his ethnicity. In 2001, I thus was of the members who established the Centre for Minority Rights Development to champion for the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples in Kenya.
How come you are engaging for the right to food?
It has naturally become part of our work to address the issue of the right to food. And you cannot talk about the right to food without addressing the right to land, which is at the center of the existence of many communities in Africa, including farmers and indigenous communities. The right to food is related to the dignity of human life because without food you either die of starvation or depend upon food handouts. Human dignity is the ability to produce and determine what kind of food you eat.
Concerning the RAISE project, how do you think you can make a difference on these issues of right to food, right to land in Kenya?
RAISE has placed the issue of the right to food on the Kenyan rights agenda. It has raised the question of the relationship between land and the right to food. RAISE activities were deliberately designed to address not just the seeds, but also where the seeds are supposed to grow, as well as the breeds, the other side of seeds, when we look at food production.
Therefore, the government is now discussing land use systems that specifically recognize and protect lands designated for food production. The relationship between land and food is also taking shape within various discussions about climate justice, in United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conversations, especially at the UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP).
Could you elaborate on the Endorois case that you’re working on within RAISE?
The Endorois case was the first case that CEMIRIDE litigated at the African Commission. It pursues the rights of indigenous peoples using the African Charter on human rights, especially the right to land. The Endorois case sets a precedent for jurisprudence around indigenous people’s rights in Africa. After that, so many other cases went to court. The courts have severally ruled in favor of the communities, referring to the Endorois case.
There is a very interesting relationship between human rights and international frameworks, all the way down to the regional level, such as within the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights. All these frameworks are interrelated and can be used to interpret human rights in a local context. Moreover, the main issue was the question of land rights, viewed within the cultural context of a community, which included pastoralism. Pastoralism is a whole cultural system. It is not just livestock production, but a food production system, embedded in people’s livelihoods. It enables people in Africa, who used to see pastoralists as uncivilized, to start viewing pastoralism in a way that dignifies them.
How will you use the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Pre-session to ensure that pastoralists’ basic rights, such as the right to land, continue to be met or are better met in times of climate change?
Through the current National Climate Change Action Plan the government has recognized the role indigenous peoples play in the climate change mitigation adaptation to ensure better resilience. One of the things lacking is the computerization of loss and damage experienced by indigenous communities during extreme weather because of climate change. This has become visible in recent disasters, such as the droughts in 2009 and in 2022 – 2023, where we still lack figures on livestock losses. Data is important for compensation to support these communities to bounce back and for land use management.
There is a need for a strong engagement framework in climate interventions for indigenous peoples. There are no strategies or budgets that ensure these communities engage in the design of climate change interventions in a meaningful way. We operate in a context where much indigenous knowledge has disappeared. We really need to secure documentation of certain knowledge and practices that we then upskill for climate resilience, such as in traditional weather forecasting. This is what we want UPR to achieve.
You have trained the communities during the drafting of civil society contribution. So, they should now be capable of monitoring the recommendations, especially those adopted by the government. How do you see the community involvement in the process of monitoring the recommendations within this fourth UPR cycle?
At the beginning of 2010, only about 50 organizations were participating in the fourth cycle. Now, we are talking about more than 300 organizations. People now understand the positioning of UPR, because initially they would think that UPR is just another talk show. However, experience indicates that in Kenya, for example, there is a strong possibility that the country will be interested in implementing these initiatives. If this happens, minorities, indigenous peoples, and local farmers who have been involved will have a great opportunity to actively participate in the implementation.
We hope to secure resources to maintain our momentum, as without them, it will be challenging to monitor the indicators we aim to measure at the two-year and five-year marks. Our goal is to position UPR in a way that attracts more support, particularly for implementing the recommendations. The outlook is already promising, as many organizations are showing interest in the UPR process.
Thank you very much for the interview!
Christian Wirz (VSF-Suisse), Claudia Fuhrer (Fastenaktion) and Nyang’ori Ohenjo (Cemiride) in front of the United Nations.
