“Human Rights in Kenya’s Extractive Sector: Exploring the Terrain”

 This Report is the product of desk-based and on-the-ground interviews to assess the human rights and environmental issues within Kenya’s increasing extractive sector activities…

The Report highlights a number of concerns across a range of human rights, but chief among them were those related to land. Communities hosting extractives operations were concerned about inadequate consultation prior to companies accessing land, inadequate compensation for land and land improvements, inadequate protection of land rights due to lack of ownership title both for individual owners or communities that hold community title. Related to this were threats to livelihoods as a result of deprivation of land, as well as possible environmental degradation by the extraction activities.

Implementation gaps, in particular by government regulators, present a further critical driver of human rights challenges in the context of Kenya’s extractive sector. This is compounded by information asymmetry between communities and business, diminishing the chances of successful advocacy on behalf of impacted communities