A judge in Kenya has called on the government to guarantee constitutional rights and protections for trans people. The ruling came after a years-long case following the unwarranted arrest, detention, and forced medical examination of a trans athlete in 2019.
The Justice presiding over the case, Reuben Nyakundi of the Eldoret High Court, maintained that trans people should have the right to determine their “self-identified gender,” and the government and legal system should recognize it, according to the Washington Blade.
The plaintiff who brought the case forward, who is also a board member of Jinsiangu, a local trans rights organization, pressed charges against the director of Public Prosecutions, attorney general commissioner general of prisons, and the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, which conducted the medical examination following her arrest in Eldoret. She was arrested at the hospital for allegedly “impersonating a woman.”
Following her arrest, the plaintiff was transferred to a men’s ward where she experienced abuse by inmates before being escorted to her home, as per the Washington Blade. She described the experience as “humiliating and traumatizing.”
In his final ruling, Nyakundi proposed awarding the plaintiff $10,000 in damages for violation of privacy and dignity and further directed the government to impose policy reforms to protect detained trans people in prisons.
He also directed parliament to enact a law that protects trans people and offered up the Intersex Persons Bill 2024 as an alternative to identify the rights of trans people in Kenya. “The enactment of a Transgender Protection Rights Act is recommended as a potential mechanism to ensure equal protection and recognition for transgender persons,” said judge Nyakundi.
Jinsiangu released a statement following the ruling writing: “This is the first time a Kenyan court has explicitly ordered the state to create legislation on transgender rights, and a first in the African continent. If implemented it could address decades of legal invisibility and discrimination faced by transgender persons by establishing clear legal recognition of gender identity, protection against discrimination in employment, housing, healthcare, and education, and access to public services without bias or harassment.”
