Our panel discuss the Kenyan experience of lockdown, access to essentials, and stories of mutual aid in the urban settlements of Nairobi.
Chair
Susi Bascon, Peace Brigades International UK Director
Speakers Editar Adhiambo Ochieng, Founder of the Feminist for Peace Rights and Justice Centre, Kiberia settlement, Kenya Gacheke Gachihi, Coordinator of Mathare Social Justice Centre, Kenya Naomi Barasa, former Campaigns Manager at Amnesty Kenya and PBI Kenya board member
03/06/2020 at 17:00 (GMT+1)
Kenya is only at the beginning of their fight against COVID-19, but the impact on millions of ordinary citizens is already extraordinary. Kenyans are worried about the government’s response: there are no border quarantine provisions, not enough ICU beds, and national Coronavirus hotlines don’t work. The virus poses incredible risk to those living in Nairobi’s densely populated urban settlements, where access to water, soap, and sanitation is unreliable and social distancing is next to impossible. Inhabitants of urban settlements who cannot work from home face the reality that a day away from work means a day without food on the table.
Join us to find out more about the impact of COVID-19 in Kenya and the role that women and other grassroots human rights defenders across Social Justice Centres in Kenya are playing to support their communities. Millions living in informal settlements depend on them for access to water, sanitation, and healthcare provisions, as the government sits on its hands. We will also discuss the impact of lockdown on police violence, court suspensions, and the wellbeing of human rights defenders.
We will be hearing from three human rights defenders from the city’s informal settlements, each of whom are involved in protecting the fundamental rights of their neighbours through social justice centres and women human rights defenders networks.