KITUO CHA SHERIA & ANOTHER V THE ATTORNEY GENERAL & OTHERS (ITEN ELC PETITION NO E002 OF 2022 (ISLA & KELIN as amicus curiae)

Summary of legal issue:

The Climate Change Act, No 11 of 2016 sets out various duties of the state in relation to the development of a National Climate Change Action Plan that would enable a sufficient response to climate change and to mitigate the impacts thereof.  However, the government has not fulfilled its obligation in relation to Rift Valley Basin. This has led the petitioners in this case to suffer acute climate vulnerability which has affected various aspects of their lives including health, source of livelihoods, and their natural habitation.

The state has a legal obligation to mitigate against climate change, and take measures to adapt to the effects of climate change is set out in law. This has been done in gender neutral terms, and it is evident that the effects of climate change have a disproportionate affect on women. Thus an intervention in this case would be useful to bring out a gendered perspective on climate change demonstrating the link between women socio-economic rights and climate change, the gendered impact of climate change and its disproportionate effect on women. This  information shall assist  the court in nuancing the state obligations to mitigate and develop adaptation measures to the effects of climate change on women socio-economic rights.

Theory of change:

While this case is grounded on the state obligations around mitigating against and adapting to climate change generally, ISLA has an opportunity to redirect the court’s thinking around how and why women are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change, the violations that they suffer when climate change programmes do not appropriately respond to women’s lived experiences in order to assist the court to develop jurisprudence on protection of women socio-economic rights.  Through this jurisprudence, interventions aimed  at ensuring that measures developed for mitigation and adaptation to climate change take into account women’s experiences and their specific needs.

Documents:

Application for joinder

Note:

The Kenya Legal & Ethical Issues Network on HIV and AIDS  (KELIN) in Kenya and ISLA have jointly lodged an application for joinder as joint amici before Iten Environmental and Land Court Registry in KITUO CHA SHERIA & ANOTHER V THE ATTORNEY GENERAL & OTHERS (ITEN ELC PETITION NO E002 OF 2022.