‘Civil society needs to build the capacity of the Members of East Africa Legislative Assembly to ensure that they incorporate human rights principles as they legislate.’
These were the sentiments of Hon Nancy Abisai, former East Africa Legislative Assembly member during the East Africa civil society dialogue in Kigali, Rwanda.
The dialogue, held on 14th – 15th June 2018 deliberated on the role of civil society in the law-making processes at the East Africa Legislative Assembly (EALA) and examined trends in legislation on sexual and reproductive health and rights in the East African countries.
Key among the challenges identified as limiting civil society participation included: restrictive national laws and shrinking space for civil society to operate and perform their duties effectively, inadequate involvement of the civil society in the planning processes at national and regional levels on sexual and reproductive health rights agenda and lack of a regional dedicated CSOs multi-stakeholder engagement forum delivering proactive and interactive platform on SRHR.
At the end of this forum, KELIN and the represented CSOs discussed opportunities to strategically engage the East Africa Legislative Assembly. An action plan was developed with immediate action points to be taken including: signing of a memorandum of understanding with the East Africa Legislative Assembly to provide expertise on any issues they maybe legislating on; conduct a situational analysis of the SRHR laws and policies for each country represented and the prospects of re-drafting the previously introduced EAC Sexual and Reproductive Health Bill.
To contribute to the discussions on this forum follow KELIN on our social media platforms:
Twitter: @KELINKenya using hashtag #EACJ #SRHR #breakingthebarriers
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kelinkenya
For more information contact:
Nerima Were
Programme Manager Sexual & Reproductive Health & Rights
Kenya Legal and Ethical Issues Network on HIV & AIDS (KELIN)
4th Floor, Somak Building, Mombasa Road
Tel +254202515790
Email: nwere@kelinkenya.org
