By Atunga Atuti O.J.
Over
the past several years and especially since September 11th 2001 State responses
to (perceived and/or actual) threats of terrorism and National(Homeland )
Security has been one of the most defining developments in the dichotomy
between human rights, national security and rule of law. State responses to
these challenges has in many respects been seen to be inimical the enjoyment of
human rights and fundamental freedoms around the world. This however need not be the case.
For some time in Kenya, actors in
Security and Human Rights have often viewed their work as operating in mutually
exclusive terrains. Operations of security agencies have elicited reactions
from human rights actors on account of (and often have been ) heavy handedness.
Kenya has been confronted by a number of challenges that are of a security
nature and various actors namely those in the human rights movement and security
has acted in non-complimentary ways. Whereas many of the actors in the human
rights movement have existed to
challenges state excesses that constrict spaces for enjoyment of human rights,
the actualization of this mandate
has essentially created a situation
whereby the actions by those in the
security and human rights sectors have been implemented at cross purpose rather
than in a complimentary manner. Nowhere else is this more felt than in the
attempts by government agencies to address radical ideological issues of
terrorism and ethnic, religious and social animosities.
In respect to terrorism the state agencies
have sought to curtail freedom of expression in attempts to crackdown platforms
that proffer opportunities for spreading of perceived radical messages. This has also been visible
in cases that seek to curtail freedom of
assembly and worship in attempts to address radicalization and inculcation to
violent extremism propagated by certain
religious formations. Whereas the debate on security and terrorism on one hand
and freedom of expression, assembly and worship is an old one, there have
been few successful attempts to balance
the enjoyment of these freedoms and the
responsibility to ensure the enjoyment of the same by others. This is an entrenched
principle in many Bills of Rights. This principle posits that enjoyment of
rights must be exercised with a level of responsibility to ensure that the
rights and freedoms of others are not
undermined in the process of asserting
ones rights.
Kenya in 2010, promulgated a new
Constitution that is progressive in terms of protecting and promoting the
rights of individuals and groups. This constitution has been hailed as one of
the most progressive texts in the world.
Other than the robust provisions of the Bill of Rights, the Constitution also
makes provisions on Security and provides thus that; ‘National Security is the
protection against internal and external threats to Kenya’s territorial
integrity and sovereignty, its people, their rights, freedoms, property, peace,
stability and prosperity, and their national interests’[Art. 238]. The Bill of
Rights enjoins all persons and state organs to work to promote the full
enjoyment of rights and fundamental freedoms. How then does a state agency
charged with the responsibility of ensuring enjoyment of rights ensure and censure actions that would
be classified as rights and freedoms but which would compromise the enjoyment
of rights and freedom by others?
In the recent past security agencies have been
dealing with cases of radicalization to involvement in violent extremism. Two
arguments have been advanced; the first seeking to defend many of such ‘acts’
as falling within the gamut of enjoyment of
rights and fundamental freedoms over which state agencies must desist
from interference and second, that such
actions work to negate and deter full enjoyment of rights and fundamental
freedoms by others hence state agencies
have a responsibility to act to thwart possible
negative outcomes( of such actions).
There have been cases where
exercise of the freedom of expression and opinion has worked to impinge on the
enjoyment of rights by others or have been threats to other peoples’ rights and
freedoms and in some cases these have even worked to endanger the peace,
security and a range of rights of
others. How then do we balance the enjoyment of rights including the benefits
of security and rule of law? How do we promote respect the fundamental tenets
of freedom of expression and the right to hold and express an opinion vis a vis the protection and promotion
of the right to security which is threatened by radicalized individuals bent on
extremist violence? How do we promote security in an environment where
individuals utilize institutions and platforms that are intended to promote
rights as provided in the constitution for promoting actions that undermine the
same rights?
A planned conference in Nairobi in June 2015, devoted to radicalization into
violent extremism, provides a rare
opportunity for the country to the twin challenges and develop a framework and an action plan for preventing
the spread of radicalizing messages in various platforms and which
also seek to entrench the full enjoyment
of rights and fundamental freedoms. This on the understanding that addressing
the challenges of terrorism and violent extremism requires that we live our
values and not those of the enemy that seeks to destroy our. Whenever there have been terror attacks and
our security forces have acted in a manner that seemed to mete communal and
collective punishment against communities, the terrorist agents have been emboldened because their ultimate goal is to destroy the values
that we uphold; justice, fairness, tolerance and rule of law. Whenever
terrorist agents have been subjected to the
due process of the law and punished for
their acts, our society has always
made a bold step for justice even as security organs have argued to the contrary
that our justice system impedes the fight against terrorism.
The upcoming conference would
also be an opportunity to interrogate among others a number of issues. These
include but not limited to
understanding what the key drivers of radicalization in Kenya are.
In addition, the forum should be an
opportune moment to propose how to prevent radicalizing organizations from
preying on a combination social, economic and political realities in the
country to recruit youth and others to violent extremism. These, in addition to enhancing the capacity of the
youth to resist recruitment and the allure of radical ideologies. And also enhance cross-sectoral collaboration and
efforts aiming at countering radicalization. These are germane issues because
local causes of radicalization are
deeply rooted in economic, social and
political issues of which only a
long-term strategy would be able to resolve.
In seeking to address
radicalization a number of actions need
to be taken. These are, first there is
need to build knowledge and expertise on
counter/radicalization measures, dialogue processes with various
constituencies towards developing a
common understanding on these issues.. This
also requires collaboration
between various agencies including civil societies as well as institutions of higher
learning through joint research and strategies on the processes of radicalization and preventive measures. This is missing at the
moment because each of the agencies and actors seems to be bowling alone. The second set of actions relate to
cross-sectoral cooperation and coordination to improve inter-agency actions as
well as establishing responsibilities for each of the organs. Even basic issues like definitions
are problematic and this cannot be left in the domain of one actor. The third set of actions relate to prevention
measures and resources against extremist groups. This will require inter-faith
dialogues as well as mentoring schemes in order to diminish the pool of
recruits. And finally, there is need for a number of actions relating to
prevention of radicalization and recruitment through social networks as well as
on the internet. The most important outcome from any forum trying to address
radicalization into violent extremism is/should be that Kenya seeks to entrench a culture of
human rights and that prevention and counter-radicalization
processes is part of that.
Atunga Atuti O.J. works for
Human Rights and is a Scholar at the Graduate School, University of
Nairobi Centre for Human Rights and
Peace
Email: eajournal@email.com
