Call for public submissions on a public inquiry into child pregnancy in Kenya

In line with its mandate, the Commission is conducting a public inquiry into child pregnancy in Kenya. The inquiry aims at promoting and mainstreaming issues of children including protecting their rights and privileges.

The Constitution of Kenya, 2010 and other enabling laws as well as international and regional legal framework to which Kenya is party guarantees protection of children and youth from exploitation and harmful cultural practices and further guarantees their right to reproductive health. In Kenya, young girls and boys in- and out- of school are at risk of early sexual debut, sexual abuses, mistimed and unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortion and early deaths that deprives them basic rights, quality education, life, and social wellbeing. These risks can be averted through well-coordinated multi-stakeholder efforts towards among other interventions;

• Undertaking research on key drivers for child pregnancies;
• Advocating for full access to information and reproductive health services for sexually active youth including contraception and safe legal abortion care;
• Engaging members of the public and communities on prevention of early pregnancies among other strategies of awareness and education campaign;
• Engagement of the government (both national and county) to provide an enabling legal and policy environment to prevent and address cases of child pregnancy;
• Engaging the health sector to provide comprehensive reproductive health services to sexually active child including counseling and testing.

OBJECTIVES OF THE INQUIRY

1. To explore implementation gaps in national laws and policies alongside international and regional treaties on promotion of  reproductive health rights of children and eliminating sexual violence
2. To inquire into financial allocation for children/youth sexual health and reproductive rights at the national and county levels and its impact on child pregnancy.
3. To assess the emerging drivers of child pregnancies and sexual violence
4. To document firsthand information/stories from children survivors of  sexual violence including those forced to undergo unsafe abortion
5. To examine the opportunities the criminal justice system has in mitigating sexual violence.

METHODOLOGY FOR THE INQUIRY

Approach involves gathering information and evidence from multiple sources including through but not limited to reconnaissance visits/stakeholder consultations as well as public and private hearings

In view of the right to public participation as captured by the Constitution of Kenya, 2010, the Commission is requesting members of the public to submit any information or evidence , memorandum or otherwise they have in regard to the following issues;

1. Experiences and emerging trends on child pregnancy
2. Contribution of child pregnancy to unsafe abortion
3. Emerging causes of child pregnancy in the contemporary society.
4. Exploring the dangers/problems posed by child pregnancy in Kenya
5. Barriers and challenges to addressing child pregnancy in Kenya
6.  Plausible solutions in prevention and response to child pregnancy in Kenya

You may include details on your name, occupation and contact address and we will get back to you. Our contact details are as follows:

public submissions on a public inquiry into child pregnancy in Kenya