The East African Centre for Human Rights - EACHRights

The organization was established to undertake Human Rights work within a regional context. Its creation followed consultation with academics and Human Rights practitioners from United Kingdom, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia. These consultations revealed a lacuna with regard to human rights in Kenya and within the region. This necessitated a desk review that resulted in the development of a concept paper which was finalized in December 2010. The desk review revealed some of the gaps that need to be filled and opportunities that need to be exploited namely the promulgation of the new Constitution of the Republic of Kenya, the developments at the African Court of Human and People’s Rights, the developments at the East African Court of Justice, the developments at the African Committee on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, the adoption of the Optional Protocol on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the ongoing judicial reforms in Kenya, the Vision 2030 and the Millennium Development Goals to mention a few. The organization is the first regional Human Rights institution of its kind in East Africa that seeks to initiate and undertake programmes that will promote, protect and enhance Human Rights generally but with special emphasis on the promotion of the realization of economic, social and cultural rights in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The establishment of the organization was thus driven by the developments in the international, regional and national human rights arena and discourse; the gaps that were identified with regard to Human Rights in East Africa and the emerging opportunities that have presented themselves with regard to the promotion, protection and enhancement of human rights in general and specifically to the realization of economic, social and cultural rights, the forgotten child of the human rights family. While developing the initiative, bearing in mind the need to compliment the work of other organizations and also to learn some best practices, due regard was had to the programmes of other national Human Rights organizations in Kenya.