February 11, 2010
Rt. Hon. Mwai Kibaki, CGH, MP, President
Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga, EGH, MP, Prime Minister
Republic of Kenya
Re: Please Cancel Police Disarmament Operations and Institute Community-Based Disarmament Process in Northern Kenya
Your Excellencies:
The African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights, Africa’s highest human rights body, issued a landmark ruling February 4th in favor of the Endorois, an Indigenous group, that the Kenyan government forced off their land in the 1970s to create a game reserve. The decision establishes two key international law precedents. This is the first time any international human rights body recognized the “right to development" that is included in the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.