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Human Rights States and Societies: A Reflection from Kenya

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Human Rights in Africa

Part of the book series: Contemporary African Political Economy ((CONTAPE))

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Abstract

This chapter by Willy Mutunga, Kenya’s former Chief Justice and President of the Supreme Court, highlights debates on human rights by African intellectuals and dynamics of Kenya’s human rights movement. Further, it explores the transformation of the Judiciary and envisions the possibility of a human rights state in the context of Kenya’s 2010 transformative Constitution. Overall, Mutunga posits that Kenya’s Constitution and the new judiciary provides a firm foundation for the country’s transformation.

This chapter is a revised version of my 2015 article titled “Human Rights States and Societies: A Reflection From Kenya,” The Transnational Human Rights Review 2: 63–102. I thank Professors Jill Ghai, Yash Ghai, Makau Mutua, Joel Ngugi, Joe Oloka Onyango, and Duncan Okello for their brilliant comments on earlier drafts of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chief Justice & President Supreme Court, Kenya (2011–2016), Office of the Former Chief Justice, Nairobi, Kenya

    Willy Mutunga

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  1. Willy Mutunga
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  1. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Eunice N. Sahle

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Mutunga, W. (2019). Human Rights States and Societies: A Reflection from Kenya. In: Sahle, E. (eds) Human Rights in Africa. Contemporary African Political Economy. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51915-3_2

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