Kenya Network of Women and Girls with Disabilities

Kenya is a State Party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) hence required to periodically report to the CESCR Committee, which is composed of 18 independent experts. The CESCR Committee considered and adopted a List of Issues in relation to Kenya  during its  72nd Pre-sessional Working Group  (06 - 10 March 2023). During this time the Network has engaged in the process by submitting an alternative report that sought to put a focus on the situation of women and girls with disabilities with regards to economic and socio-cultural rights & further reinforced these issues in the oral advocacy meetings. This played a key part to influence the Committee’s List of issues in relation to the sixth periodic report of Kenya with 25 references of persons with disabilities across the different articles including: Equality and non-discrimination, right to work, right to social security, right to adequate standard of living, right to phys...

When we recently began using the hashtag #DisabilityDisruptors for our social media engagements, it drew a lot of interest and curiosity, from those we engage with in the disability community, but also wider, within other social justice movements. What does it mean? And for us, guided by the fiery Pan African feminist #MildredNgesa, this is all we do, disrupting disability discrimination every day, because we face it every day! Sometimes in very direct ways, and a lot of time, it comes, hidden, in ‘good intention’, but with harm that exclude us further and further. There are many instances, and it is important that each of us starts noticing them; that each of us in our activism for social justice, does not miss the subtle discrimination that is directed at women and girls with disabilities and broadly to persons with disabilities. And because it happens on a regular basis, we shall explore it on a regular basis, as we invite all of you to join us in fighting this disability discrimi...