Kiai to table rights reports to the UN

Mr Maina Kiai, the UN Special Rapporteur, will appear before the UN Human Rights Commission to present his reports, including one on his mission to Rwanda. PHOTO/FILE

What you need to know:

  • Mr Kiai, a UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, will also deliver a report on the assembly and association of marginalised groups.

Human rights activist Maina Kiai will appear before the UN Human Rights Commission to present his reports, including one on his mission to Rwanda.

Mr Kiai, a UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, will also deliver a report on the assembly and association of marginalised groups.

His report to be presented on Tuesday in Geneva documents challenges faced by marginalised groups in exercising their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association.

These groups, deemed most at risk, include the disabled; youth; women; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people; members of minority groups; indigenous people; internally displaced persons; and non-nationals.

“International human rights law is clear in its prohibition of discrimination. Rights cannot be parcelled out on the basis of skin colour, language, age, gender, sexual identity or any other artificial marker,” he said in a statement to the media.

On Rwanda, the report will assess the current state of rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association and identify the challenges of fulfilling these rights.

Mr Kiai notes from his visit in January that while there has been progress in developing in­frastructure, building institutions and ensuring stability and security over the past 20 years, assembly and association rights had not developed along the same positive trajectory.