Kenya: ESCR-Net Members Stand in Solidarity with the Kenyan People

31 January, 2008

Solidarity Statement in Support of the Kenyan People of ESCR-Net Members

 
As members of the International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR-Net), we send our deepest expression of solidarity to the Kenyan people in these troubling times. We denounce the violence that has erupted across the country following a questionable election process, and express our sincere sympathy to all those who have suffered and continue to suffer from the unfortunate consequences of these hostilities, especially the most vulnerable who bear the brunt of the aggressions. We are shocked by the large numbers of people displaced from their homes and lands, many of whom have endured gender-based violence and lost access to basic hospital care, medicines, and food supplies. We also strongly condemn the restrictions on the freedoms of expression, assembly and association of ordinary Kenyans, among other human rights violations. We hereby call for a swift, just and peaceful resolution to the current climate of repression and outrage. Lastly, we urge Kenyans to maintain peace, tranquility and observe justice and peaceful co-existence even as an agreeable solution to this impasse is being sought. 

ESCR-Net promotes and advances economic, social and cultural rights through collective work alliances of the 138 social movements, grassroots groups, indigenous organizations and NGOs from across the globe which form its membership. We support and will continue to serve our Kenyan counterparts through these trying times, especially in defending and strengthening the realization of economic, social and cultural rights as an essential element in sustaining the dignity of all Kenyans, and in combating the structural violence of poverty and inequality which continue to threaten peoples’ lives and livelihoods.   


In solidarity, International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR-Net)

See the complete letter here.