Voices of Internally Displaced Persons in Kenya: A Human Rights Perspective
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Binding:PaperbackSize: 215x140 mm
Pages: 140Year:
Internal displacements, resulting from politically instigated ethnic, religious, inter-communal and other sectarian-induced, human-made disasters, are increasing around the world.
Voices of Internally Displaced Persons in Kenya: A Human Rights Perspective, chronicles experiences of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Kenya who fled to the IDP Camps from the ethnic violence following the country’s disputed elections in December 2007. The critique emphasises the continuing vulnerabilities in the IDP camps and examines the underlying historical and contemporary social conditions that lead to human rights violations and gendered violence. The authors raise two important issues for human rights advocates. One, that the conditions in these camps, which were developed to protect IDPs from violence, do not measure up to the standards advocated by the UN Special Rapporteurs on adequate housing, food, water, education, health and on violence against women. Two, the response efforts are often fragmented and are only designed to address the conditions in the camps. The words of a displaced woman in Kenya, summarises the feelings of human indignity experienced by the IDPs: “They should know we are human. They should ask themselves, what if they were like us…” The authors suggest such monumental human crises, in Kenya and elsewhere, require more integrated, sustained, and effective responses.
Roseanne Njiru is working towards her PhD in Sociology and graduate certificate in Human Rights at the University of Connecticut, USA. She holds a Masters in Sociology from the University of Nairobi, Kenya. Roseanne also has professional training on gender and research methodologies from the African Gender Institute at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. She has worked in universities and NGOs in Kenya, and has additional research experience and publications on gender, HIV and AIDS, sexual health, child labour and rights.
Dr Bandana Purkayastha is the Professor & Head, Department of Sociology and Professor, Department of Asian American Studies, University of Connecticut, USA. Her current research and publications focus on the intersection of racial ethnicity, gender, highly educated migrants, transnationalism and human rights. She currently serves as the President of Sociologists for Women in Society.
