Human Rights Abuses by Kenya's Anti-Terrorism Police Unit
The Open Society Justice Initiative and Muslims for Human Rights (MUHURI) released a new report titled, We’re Tired of Taking You to the Court: Human Rights Abuses by Kenya’s Anti-Terrorism Police Unit, on November 20th, 2013. The report argues that the Kenyan Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) has committed gross human rights violations since their creation in 2003. The United States, the report contends, should not support such units that are linked to human rights abuses. The report, which can be found here, includes a useful executive summary and further recommendations for the U.S. in its relationship with the ATPU.
A couple highlights from the report include:
- Human rights abuses and violations by the ATPU can be traced to the unit’s vaguely worded mandate. Rather than operating strictly as a counter-terrorist force, the ATPU is using its broad powers “… as a tool against political opponents, civil society, religious and ethnic groups, and common criminals” (page 61).
- The report recommends that the United States “Makes publicly available, in a regularized and easily accessible format, information about foreign military and counterterrorism support to Kenya” (page 18).
Download the full report as a PDF here.
This post was written by Transparency and Accountability Intern Kyle Dallman