Court Gives Direction on Forced & Coerced Sterilization Cases

Allan Maleche, Advocate for the petitioners addresses the media after filing of the cases on 10 December , 2014

Picture By: KELIN/Regina Mwanza

Five women living with HIV, together with KELIN and the African Gender & Media Initiative Trust (GEM) attended the mention for the two land mark cases on the forced and coerced sterilization of Women Living with HIV (WLHIV).  The purpose of the mention was for the court to give directions on how the cases will proceed after being filed on 10 December 2014.  The 2^nd respondent (Pumwani Maternity Hospital), the 4^th respondent (County Executive Committee Member In Charge of Health Services – Nairobi County) and the 5^th respondent (Cabinet Secretary-Ministry of Health) were not present in court despite being served with the mention notice and the relevant court documents.

After listening to the advocate of the petitioner and the advocates of the 1^st respondent (Médecins Sans Frontières – France) and 3^rd respondent (Maries Stopes International), the court directed the parties as follows in relation to petition number 605 of 2014:

1. The advocate of the petitioners to disclose the identity of the women to the 1^st and 3^rd respondent’s advocates, within seven days, on the undertaking that they keep it confidential and only be used for purposes of this petition.
2. The respondents to file their written response to the petition within 30 days.
3. The petitioners are at liberty to respond to the respondents’ response within 30 days of being served.
4. The advocates for the petitioner were directed to serve the order against the respondents who were not present in court
5. The matter be mentioned on 8 May 2015 for purpose of confirming whether the above mentioned orders have been complied with and agreeing on a hearing date

The court gave similar orders in petition number 606 of 2015 with regards to the disclosure of the identity of the women, and the timeline of filing a written response to the petition. Both cases will be mentioned on 8 May 2015.

Petitioner’s court documents,

i.            Petition number 605 of 2014

ii.            Petition number 606 of 2014

Court Orders

i.            Petition number 605 of 2014

ii.            Petition number 606 of 2014