Major milestone as Nairobi is elected to UN rights body, but there's a lot more

Aerial view of Nairobi. [File, Standard]

The government has recorded a major diplomatic triumph, following Kenya’s election to the United Nations Human Rights Council. Coming in the wake of a spate of murders of unarmed protesters last June, and the continued arbitrary arrests and abduction of perceived government critics, the UN election, for a period of three years, signals Nairobi success as a regional powerhouse.

Kenya’s candidacy in the UN polls was contested by civil society organisations, which, argued that Nairobi’s human rights record was suspect, and that they were least qualified to provide leadership on that front.

It appears political expediency prevailed, as Nairobi has been spearheading the UN-led peace mission in Haiti. “It’s what one might call ‘rub-my-back, I rub-yours,’” said a top diplomat from a European nation.

An African diplomat saw it differently. “People might say Kenya’s election to the UN body is like showing the middle finger to the world, same way the world responded when Idi Amin was elected to lead the Organisation of African Unity in the same year he was murdering his citizens back home.

“But these are different times and the sort of impunity that Amin superintended over Uganda cannot go unreported in this digital age. I think those folks in New York have a sense of humour. They have given Nairobi a rope long enough to hang themselves.”

He elaborated: “What would possibly be Nairobi’s response if unarmed protesters returned to the streets and were cut down? The UN could threaten to deploy peacekeepers if the State cannot provide protection, so I think Nairobi has been neutered without anaesthesia, if you’ll pardon my crude analogy.”