Breaking the ice for older persons’ rights
“It is not because the governments do not want to accept the recommendations on the rights
of older persons, it is because the recommendations are not there, earlier, issues of ageing and
older persons were not prioritised in the UPR Cycle Processes”
- Michael Kanyingi Kimuhu.
For many years, Michael Kanyingi Kimuhu worked with vulnerable people in Kenya living with HIV/AIDS. It was during this experience, taking care of the sick and observing their families, that he noticed it was older people taking care of the orphans and vulnerable children. This prompted him to question who was caring for the older members of society.
Following the realisation that rights of older people in Kenya were not a priority, Michael committed to advocating for these groups. He founded Mangu Integrated Community Project Kenya (MICOP) in 2010, a community-based organisation which advocates for the rights of the older persons, where he leads advocacy work at the national and international level, including through the Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
Michael realised that he needed to learn more on how to conduct advocacy on this issue- or at least how to engage with people and organizations and international mechanisms for the protection of human rights. Driven by this need to raise as much awareness as possible on the topic, he discovered the UPR in 2018, and later joined the UPR Kenya Stakeholders Coalition. Upon looking into Kenya’s earlier UPR cycles, he noticed that the rights of older people in the country were not being addressed. In review of the third cycle of Kenya, Kimuhu advocated for the inclusion of eight recommendations to Kenya, one of which was presented and accepted by the State during the review.
Michael claims his experience with the system meant that these recommendations were ‘general’, something he worked on going into the fourth cycle. Although, he did note that the general nature of his recommendations paved the way for a dialogue with the Kenyan government. Following a series of briefings, which also involved other Older Persons Organizations, the government fast-tracked the ratification of African Union’s protocol on the rights of older Persons.
“I would say the UPR process has actually broken a lot of ice”, Michael credits the mechanism as an entry point for CSOs in Kenya to engage with the government, as without recommendations and input from CSOs pushing these issues, governments are not aware of gaps in their policies. He argues that awareness still needs to be raised on how useful the UPR process is in allowing CSOs to bring these issues to the forefront, encouraging governments to face the issues within their country.
UPR Info's work
For Michael, UPR Info’s work is crucial in helping CSOs engage effectively with the UPR process. He highlighted the value of its capacity-building activities, such as the 2024 webinar he joined, which encouraged CSOs to submit reports during their country’s review cycle. These sessions, he noted, are especially useful for learning how to frame recommendations so that their work is heard and taken seriously.
One of the initiatives that Michael has advocated for in Kenya is sustainable social protection funding for older people, ideally this would be for those who are over 60, but due to the current financial situation, the government can only provide the funding to those other 70. Michael acknowledges the government’s ongoing efforts and understands that meaningful change takes time. At the same time, he has been working on another important initiative: developing IT training programs for older people. In an increasingly digitalised world, it is vastly important to empower older citizens by helping them to navigate technology. Yet, challenges such as limited funding and implementation capacity remain. Despite these challenges, Michael and MICOP Kenya are committed to continuing to work with the Kenyan government to ensure the protection and advancement of older people within Kenya.
Following the work of MICOP Kenya and other Stakeholders during the UPR cycles, there is now a draft law, the Kenya Older Persons Bill 2024, which he hopes will be put into force soon. The bill is currently with the Attorney General, with the aim of being put to a vote in the Parliament by the end of the year. MICOP Kenya was part of the drafting process for the bill, which also included the public participation of older persons to give their views on what should be included. Social protection is the main theme of the draft law, but there are other protections in place for older persons, including the themes of ageism, land ownership, insurance, labour and an older persons’ council, which would allow older people to be represented and included in discussions about their rights.
When asked to describe the UPR in his own words, Michael stated: “UPR to me means [a place] where we can talk about issues of human rights in a sober manner, where people can actually discuss and feel that the issues will be articulated in a platform that is friendly, but firm and committing.”