Reinforce Human-rights Approach; to domestic Radicalization and Violent Extremism
Violent Extremism
By: Dennis Wendo
Worth Noting:
- It is important to be cognizant that the primary duty of criminal justice agencies and officials is the protection of the rights of citizens and the promotion of community safety. Law enforcement and adjudication are aimed at protecting citizens and communities from the predations of criminals as well as ensuring the safety of lives, property and community peace.
- There ought not to be any dissonance between policing and human rights protections. Rights-based policing requires that law enforcement and security agencies should respect the rights of citizens, especially suspects, guaranteed in the United Nations and African Union human rights instruments and in all national constitutions.
- Most significant among them are the rights to life, liberty, association, conscience, thought, free speech and freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment.
The threat of terrorism is a universal tell of and Kenya has been a casualty right from ,1980 Norfolk Hotel bombing,1998 United States embassy bombings,2002 Kikambala Hotel bombing,2013 Westgate Mall shooting,2014 Mpeketoni attacks,2015 Garissa attack and the 2019 Nairobi Dusitd2 complex attack.
Improvised explosive device (IED) attacks are on upswing in the north eastern parts of Kenya, targeting security patrols on key routes along the porous Kenya-Somalia borders and inland netizens on transit. The aftermath continues to cause deaths of innocent citizens, immeasurable social-economic setbacks and fright of the untold to potential investors.
In and out of the region, the attacks have been associated with terror- groups, with insurgencies like Al-shabab, Al-Qaeda, Al- Fatar, ISIL and Boko Haram claiming responsibility. Terrorism and violent extremism are mostly employed interchangeably, with the latter being regarded broader than terrorism.
Violent extremism to a larger extent is shaped by the activities of terrorists, which spread messages of hate and violence as well as religious, cultural and social intolerance. Groups engaged in violent extremism often distort and exploit religious beliefs, ethnic differences and political ideologies to legitimize their actions as well as to recruit and retain their followers. On the other hand, radicalization is the process by which individuals adopt violent extremist ideologies that lead them to commit terrorist acts, or which are likely to render them more vulnerable to recruitment by terrorist organizations.
Majority of those falling prey to the above are the youths, heedless of religion, tribe or race. It is cardinal to understand the push and pull into radicalization and violent extremism as we address the provocations. The catalysts are not static and often range from, lack of access to justice, human rights violation, economic factors for financial gains, lack of land and political suppression.
Rights-based policing should not be conceived or construed in the narrow sense to only mean the protection of the criminal-process rights of suspects, defendants and convicts. It should be construed more predominantly to include the right of nations, communities and victims to justice, restitution, safety and security. Such a conception will reduce citizens’ alienation from criminal justice systems and their resort to instant self-help justice. This is analogous to the broadening of security from traditional state-centred security to the broader paradigm of human security.
Majority of victims that have ended up being radicalized and recruited into extremist groups have shown interests of surrendering and going back to normal community life. The fear has been security, acceptance without victimization and intimidations as well as economic sustainability for their livelihoods. In combating this, state agencies and key players need to move away from a hard-based approach in accepting voluntary returnees.
It is the utmost obligation of state authorities, including police, to respect and protect the right to life. The law enforcers should only use lethal force as a last resort. Many killings by the police as witnessed do not meet these criteria. Impunity for killings by police often leads to a deadly cycle of various forms of violence, radicalization and extremism included.
All governments have a duty to incorporate international human rights law into their domestic legislation, but many have failed to do this adequately.
The human-rights approach encourages social-dialogue with the rights to empower citizens, state and non- state actors as well as strengthening the capacity of duty bearers without causing collateral damages. It focuses on participation, accountability, non-discrimination and equality, empowerment and legal structures in design for a win-win situation.
It is important to be cognizant that the primary duty of criminal justice agencies and officials is the protection of the rights of citizens and the promotion of community safety. Law enforcement and adjudication are aimed at protecting citizens and communities from the predations of criminals as well as ensuring the safety of lives, property and community peace.
There ought not to be any dissonance between policing and human rights protections. Rights-based policing requires that law enforcement and security agencies should respect the rights of citizens, especially suspects, guaranteed in the United Nations and African Union human rights instruments and in all national constitutions. Most significant among them are the rights to life, liberty, association, conscience, thought, free speech and freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment.
Persons subject to criminal law enforcement and process are guaranteed the right to; be informed promptly and in detail in a language which they understand the nature and cause of the charge against them, have adequate time and the facilities for the preparation of their defence and to communicate with counsel of their own choosing, be tried without undue delay,defend themselves in person or through legal assistance of their own choosing,examine, or have examined, the witnesses against them and obtain the attendance and examination of witnesses on their behalf under the sameconditions as witnesses against them, have the free assistance of an interpreter if they cannot understand or speak the language used in court, and protection from being compelled to testify against themselves or to confess guilt.
The obligation to observe these rights should not be limited to police forces and services, but should apply to all security, law enforcement and regulatory agencies such as customs and immigration services, special hybrid and task forces deployed to combat violent and serious crimes,trafic, health and environmental control agencies, with each of these bodies being delegated with the power of search, arrest, surveillance and intelligence gathering, investigation, detention and prosecution as well as judicial and penal agencies.
The current multi-sectoral efforts in preventing and countering radicalization and violent extremism with respect to human rights by the office of Director Public Prosecutions(ODPP), National Counter Terrorism Center(NCTC) and Haki Africa ; a human rights civil society are commendable and deserve full support from the national government and social partners alike irrespective of the ruling regime in place.
Their approach emphasizes on inclusivity of public participation , civil societies and government agencies for a seamless and soft-approach to ensure access to justice, adherence to human rights procedures and social-security to actors. This has yielded a reduction of close to 60% in human rights abuses and violations by police in the coastal region of Kenya in the recent past. This approach should be replicated in the 47 counties in the republic of Kenya to save many that are victims of the cases.
Dennis Wendo
Founder- Integrated Development Network
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