Kericho, Kenya
This week from 22nd – 24th October, 2024 in a 3-day hearing, ISLA acting as advisor to Counsel to advocates for the Kenya Legal and Ethical Issues Network on HIV/AIDS (KELIN) appeared before the High Court in Kericho, Kenya in Petition E006 of 2024 – Usikimye CBO and 4 Others v John Chebochok and Others.
The Petitioners in this case seek orders barring the nomination and election of the 1st Respondent as a Director in of the Tegat Tea Factory Limited Board of Directors. The Respondents in this case bear a statutory duty of conducting the free and fair nomination and election of officers to serve in the Board of Directors of smallholder tea companies in Kenya. The Petitioners seek to hold the Respondents liable for failing to act with due regard to their duty to ensure all the elected officials are held to a constitutional standard of integrity and leadership as set out in Chapter 6 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010. The Court in the 3-day Hearing listened to oral testimony in open court from six victims of sexual abuse perpetrated by the 1st Respondent, testimony from one grassroots activist who is one of the Petitioners and testimony from the producer of the BBC Documentary, “Sex for Work: The True Cost of our Tea” which formed the factual basis of the case. The Witness Protection Agency acting on Orders of the Court put in place measures to ensure the safety of the victims who gave testimony in court. The witness testimony before the Court was crucial to establish the wide-scale of the sexual violence and violations of human rights perpetrated by the 1st Respondent and indeed endorsed by the rest of the Respondent agencies.
This case seeks to draw attention to the widescale sexual harassment and sexual violence experienced by women working in tea farms in Kenya. The sexual violence women face on tea farms is widely documented and various interventions have been made in the last decade by various multi-nationals to this effect. However as evidenced by the Petition, the sexual violence against women continues to be the status quo. Specific concern in the case is raised as to the role of local smallholder tea companies, the Kenya Tea Development Agency and the Tea Board of Kenya in the protection of women from violence on tea farms in Kenya. ISLA’s intervention in this case is to highlight the institutionalized, systemic and widespread nature of the violence faced by women by tea farms. Further ISLA seeks to demonstrate the due diligence obligation of the Respondents in protecting women from violence, holding accountable the Respondents for failing to protect women workers in the tea sector and failing to put in place effective measures for the punishment of known perpetrators.
The Hearing of the Respondent’s case will proceed on the 18th and 19th November, 2024.
The interested party in Court were represented by Achieng Orero and Elsie Milimu who is an alumni of ISLA’s Feminist Litigation Network. The Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA) is acting as advisor to counsel. ISLA’s Feminist Litigation Network (FLN) aims to develop a pool of African feminist strategic litigators. ISLA achieves this by investing in partner organisations and a raft of capacity strengthening activities such as the strategic litigation institute.
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#TheTrueCostofOurTea
#SurvivorsVoicesMatter
#JusticeforSurvivors
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For further enquiries kindly contact:
Achieng Orero
Violence Against Women Lawyer, ISLA
Elsie Milimu
Program Officer, Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights, KELIN
