UN Committee must address plight of displaced women and girls in Kenya

Geneva, 26 July 2007 – The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women must urge the Kenyan government to adopt strong measures to protect and promote the rights of the displaced women and girls, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said today.

In 1984, Kenya ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and tomorrow (Friday), the Committee will review the government’s report on its implementation of the Convention at UN headquarters in New York. Worryingly, the government report provides no information on women and girls displaced within Kenya due to violence, forced evictions, or human rights abuses.

In a shadow report submitted to the Committee, NRC/IDMC highlights the conditions faced by internally displaced women and girls. “Roughly 400,000 people have been forcibly displaced in Kenya, and the lives and rights of the women and girls among them are particularly affected,” said NRC Secretary-General Tomas Colin Archer...

Full text of the press release
Full IDMC report

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For more information see the full report at the IDMC Kenya Country Page, or contact Jesse Bernstein at the IDMC in Geneva: tel. (mobile): (41)-78-915-0978.

The Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), established by the Norwegian Refugee Council, is the leading non-governmental body monitoring conflict-induced internal displacement worldwide.