Abstract:

Nubians are an ethnic minority group in Kenya consisting of over 100,000 people living in the 2.5 square-kilometers Kibera slum in Nairobi. Originally from Sudan, the community was forcefully conscripted into the British army by the British Colonialists in the early 1900s but were not repatriated at the end of the war. A century and several generations later, Nubians are yet to be recognized as Kenyans and are subjected to many restrictions of their right to national identity including enduring a complex and humiliating vetting processes. Consequently, many Nubians have been deprived of national identity and essential services. The community initiated legal action against the Government of Kenya (GOK) on several occasions in domestic courts; but despite receiving favorable rulings, the GOK failed to implement the decisions. The community therefore approached the African Committee and African Commission respectively in the Nubian Community in Kenya v The Republic of Kenya and IHRDA and OSJI (on behalf of children of Nubian descent in Kenya) v Kenya. The cases subjected the African Charter’s effectiveness as a normative human rights framework to the test. It is against this backdrop that this article evaluates the extent to which the African Human Rights mechanisms have advanced minorities rights. It explores whether African mechanisms can be perceived to have a meaningful contribution to the protection of minority rights, particularly considering State Parties’ persistent trend of noncompliance with decisions. Arguing that noncompliance with decisions is not necessarily an indictment of the African Union AU mechanisms, it offers among other recommendations the strengthening of implementation mechanisms of AU both domestically and regionally.