Kenya
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary: Signatory Kenya has expressed its intent to ratify the convention, but has taken few steps to complete the ratification process. Kenya has participated almost all of the convention’s meetings, most recently in September 2016, and voted in favor of a key UN resolution on the convention in December 2016.
Kenya is not known to have produced or imported cluster munitions. It is unclear if it possesses stockpiled cluster munitions. Kenya has denied an allegation that its air force used cluster munitions in Somalia in January 2016.
Policy
The Republic of Kenya signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008.
Kenya has expressed its intent to ratify the convention several times since 2009.[1] In September 2016, a representative said the ratification process may have been delayed by a process to prepare the country’s new constitution.[2] Previously, in 2011, Kenya said it was undertaking consultations on the convention.[3] In 2009 and 2010, Kenya said the Attorney General’s office was preparing the ratification package.[4]
Kenya has indicated that specific national implementation legislation for the convention is not needed because, under its constitution, an international treaty automatically becomes part of domestic law once ratified. In 2013, Kenya said its 2010 constitution “provides that international treaties which Kenya has ratified form part of the national law.”[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]
Kenya has participated in almost all of the convention’s Meetings of States Parties, including the Sixth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2016. It attended the convention’s First Review Conference in 2015 and has participated in regional workshops on the convention, most recently in Kampala, Uganda, in May 2017.[7]
In December 2016, Kenya voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that calls on states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[8] It also voted in favor of the first UNGA resolution on the convention in December 2015.[9]
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 produced or transferred cluster munitions.
Cluster Munition Monitor has previously reported that Kenya is not known to have used or stockpiled cluster munitions.[10]
Previous use Allegations
Kenya has denied an allegation that it used air-delivered cluster munitions in Somalia in early 2016. Somali media reported that cluster munitions were used in the Gedo region of Somalia in January 2016 and published photographs reportedly taken at the site of the attack that showed dead livestock and the remnants of UK-made BL755 cluster bombs and their submunitions.[11] The article alleged that the Kenyan Defence Forces (KDF) carried out the attack, reportedly against al-Shabaab, after Kenyan troops were forced to retreat from their base near the Somali border town of El Adde.
A UN investigation into the incident reported to the Security Council on 9 May 2016 that:
“In addition to civilian casualties, air strikes by the Kenyan military from 15 to 23 January in the Gedo region reportedly resulted in the killing of livestock and the destruction of water wells and houses. In this regard, allegations of cluster munitions were reported by the media and local communities. However, the Government of Kenya has officially denied them. Unexploded sub-munitions are reported to have been used by Al-Shabaab as improvised explosive devices during attacks. On 31 January, the Federal Government announced a committee to investigate the impact of the air strikes, but the committee has yet to begin its work.”[12]
The Monitor also could not conclusively determine on the basis of available evidence if Kenya used cluster munitions in January 2016. The UN investigation reported that al-Shabaab have repurposed unexploded submunitions from BL755 cluster munitions as components for improvised explosive devices (IEDs), according to an arms cache seized by anti-al-Shabaab forces in Bardera in 7 March 2016.[13]
In addition, several unexploded submunitions from BL755 cluster bombs were reportedly found near Bu’ale in Middle Juba region of Somalia January 2016.[14]
[1] In 2013, Kenya said that the ratification “is under consideration.” Statement of Kenya, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Lusaka, 11 September 2013. In 2012, Kenya informed a regional meeting that the ratification was “ongoing.” Statement of Kenya, Accra Regional Conference on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Accra, 28 May 2012.
[2] ICBL-CMC meeting with Kenneth Okoki Dindi, Director of Prosecution, Kenyan Defense Forces, Geneva, 6 September 2016.
[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; and 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] Convention on Cluster Munitions Ratification Seminar, Kampala, 29–30 May 2017. See also, Norwegian People’s Aid, “Kampala hosts East African Community Countries on cluster bomb ban,” 21 May 2015.
[8] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 71/45, 5 December 2016.
[9] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 70/54, 7 December 2015.
[10] Kenya is reported to possess Grad 122mm surface-to-surface rockets, but it is not known if these include versions with submunition payloads. International Institute for Strategic Studies, The Military Balance 2011 (London: Routledge, 2011), p. 429.
[11] “Losses shelling forces arrested Gedo and Juba,” Calanka Media, 24 January 2016. See also, “Sawirro: Kenya Oo Qaaday Weerar Culus Oo Aar goosi Ah!!,” Raacdo, 24 January 2016.
[12] UN Security Council, “Report of the Secretary-General on Somalia (S/2016/430),” 9 May 2016, p. 10, para. 51.
[13] Ibid.
[14] See Mine Action profile on Somalia.
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.
Casualties
Casualties Overview
|
All known casualties by end 2016 |
124 mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties (45 killed; 79 injured) 1999-2016, and at least 1,274 persons were reported as having been injured by ERW prior to 2004 but were not included in Monitor data. |
|
Casualties in 2016 |
0 (2015: 1) |
In 2016, the Monitor did not record any new mine/ERW casualties in the Republic of Kenya. Monitor media scanning identified four improvised explosive device (IED) casualties in one incident that may have been caused by a mine, however these casualties have not been included in the global total for 2016 as it was not clear if the device was an improvised landmine (victim-activated IED) or if remote means of activation were used. In the incident, an off duty ambulance was reported to have “hit an IED, which was hanging from a tree,” or “ran over a home-made bomb” killing the driver of the vehicle and injuring the three passengers.[1] Throughout 2016, the media reported frequent security forces casualties from “landmines” attributed to non-state armed groups; however, the means of detonation was not recorded and those casualties have therefore not been included in the total.[2]
In 2015, a 10-year-old boy was injured by unexploded ordnance within a live-fire range near Wamba.[3] The number of annual recorded casualties has remained low in recent years (one in 2015, seven in 2014, none in 2013, and one in 2012). Most casualties have been children and young men. In 2011, 29 new mine/ERW casualties were identified in Kenya, including 22 children.[4]
The Monitor has recorded 124 mine/ERW casualties in Kenya between 1999 and the end of 2016 (45 people killed and 79 injured).[5] Casualty figures are likely incomplete because there is no systematic casualty data collection mechanism in Kenya. In addition, 228 Masai and Samburu tribespeople identified as injured by unexploded ordnance (UXO) in training areas used by the British army made an out of court settlement with the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence in 2002.[6] In 2004, another 1,046 Kenyans reportedly injured by UXO were identified in a claim that was also compensated ex gratia by the UK Ministry of Defense.[7]
[1] See; “Driver killed in attack buried in Garissa,” The Star, 23 June 2016; and “Kenyan ambulance driver killed in Garissa IED attack,” The East African, 21 June 2016.
[2] See, for example: “Five Kenyan police killed after truck hits explosive device,” News 24 Africa, 27 January 2016; “Kenya: Police escape with minor injuries after explosion,” Hiiraan Online, 5 June 2016; “KDF soldiers injured after IED blows military tank in Lamu,” The Star, 26 July 2016; “Police injured in blast in Kenya's coastal region,” Shanghai Daily, 2 August 2016; and “Kenya Muslim cleric killed by explosive devices near Somali border,” Coastweek, 26 January 2016.
[3] “Kenya: UK Denies Troops Kidnapped Kenyan Minor,” cajnews Africa, 17 November 2015.
[4] Monitor media monitoring 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2015.
[5] Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor global casualty database query for 1999–2015.
[6] Paul Redfern, “UK to pay munitions victims £4.5m,” News Sunday, 21 July 2002.
[7] Colin Blackstock, “Kenyans win MoD damages,” The Guardian,12 February 2004.
Victim Assistance
The total number of survivors is unknown, but is at least 1,097 (1,046 reported through the British compensation claims process and 51 survivors identified by the Monitor in 2003–2015) in the Republic of Kenya. Mine/ERW survivors receive the same services as other persons with disabilities.
Access to services for persons with disabilities remained limited. Additional support for persons with disabilities is provided by the United Disabled Persons of Kenya Group (UDPK), chaired by Senator Godliver Omondi. The UDPK is a cross disability organization meant to provide education and awareness for persons with disabilities. In April 2015, the UDPK participated in the Bridges between Worlds follow-up meeting hosted by the chair of the Mine Ban Treaty’s Committee on Victim Assistance.[1]
Kenya ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 19 May 2008.
[1] “Experts call for stronger bridges to be built in support of landmine survivors,” Mine Ban Treaty Implementation Support Unit, 23 April 2015.