Media Advisory on the Mention of Petition 605 of 2014: Forced and Coerced Sterilization of Women Living with HIV

What: The High Court in Nairobi (Constitutional and Human Rights Division) will on Tuesday, 26 January, 2016 mention Petition No. 605 of 2014 to confirm compliance with its orders of 2 November, 2015 when Justice Ngugi ordered parties to file submissions in support of their applications to be enjoined as Friends of the Court and interested parties. The Secretariat of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Professor Alicia Yamin Ely, of the Harvard School of Public Health and the Chairperson of the National Gender and Equality Commission have  made an application seeking to be enjoined onto the case as a friend of the court. The International Community of Women Living with HIV (ICW) – Global and ICW – Kenya sought to be enjoined onto the case as Interested Parties.

The court will also give direction on the hearing of a preliminary objection filed by Marie Stopes International. The preliminary objection, which was filed on 18 January, 2016, questions the jurisdiction of the court to hear and determine this petition.

Who: SWK, PAK, GWK, AMM, Kenya Legal and Ethical Issues Network on HIV & AIDS (KELIN), African Gender and Media Initiative Trust (GEM)  vs. Médecins Sans Frontières – France (MSF- France), Pumwani Maternity Hospital, Marie Stopes International,   the Nairobi County Executive Committee Member in Charge of Health Services, Cabinet Secretary – Ministry of Health, Republic of Kenya and The Attorney General.

Why: Medicins sans Frontiers – France, have opposed the application to have the UNAIDS Secretariat joined onto the case as a friend of the court, and ICW – Global as an Interested Party. They raise seven grounds in opposition with one of their key grounds being that the intended amicus has not demonstrated that it will introduce new arguments, different from those advanced by the parties.

When: Tuesday 26 January, 2016 at 0900hrs

Where: High Court of Kenya at Nairobi, Court No. 2 on 3^rd Floor, Milimani Law Courts.

PLEASE NOTE: The applicants request that their names and identity should not be disclosed in the media to protect them from further disclosure of their HIV-status.

For more information contact:
Allan Maleche (Executive Director) KELIN and Advocate for the Petitioners.

Mombasa Road, Somak building 4th floor
Mobile No: +254 708 389 870; Email: amaleche@kelinkenya.org
For Twitter updates: @KELINkenya #Justice2Health
For background on the case: https://kelinkenya.org/2014/12/announcement/