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Kenyan newspaper Daily Nation reported this month the plan in Kenya to put up cameras to verify whether inmates are engaging in gay sex, known in criminal law (and still being punished to date) as sodomy. Homosexuality remains a crime in Kenya punishable with fourteen years imprisonment. Believe it or not, some ten countries punish this with death!
This situation in Kenya tells us that ICT is being used to propagate discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. This SHOULD NOT be the case. Although progress can be seen worldwide as regards the fight against this type of discrimination as marked by the most recent UN declaration on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity signed by 66 countries, PARADIGM SHIFT still isn’t COMPLETE. ICT should be used to realize this paradigm shift. And this blog is my little contribution, one that is characteristic of a law student (In the US, law students were at the forefront in the fight against the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Policy).
“The position of the human rights courts is becoming similarly homogenous with the courts upholding rights of privacy, freedom of expression and bodily integrity as well as principles of non-discrimination…The principle of universality admits no exception. Human rights truly are the birthright of all human beings.”[1] (Emphasis mine)
The law is a powerful tool to effect this shift in mindset. I stand by the reasoning employed by different courts in the world whose decisions were instrumental in getting the ball of the desired paradigm shift rolling. In Lawrence v Texas (539 US 558), the US Supreme Court abandoned discriminatory decisions by saying that “Petitioners are entitled to respect for their private lives. The State cannot demean their existence or control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime. It is a promise of the Constitution that there is a realm of personal liberty which the government may not enter.” Much earlier decisions by foreign and international courts have also reached the same conclusion.
Studies show that the law in a particular place more often than not reflects the prevailing public opinion. This means that change begins with each mindset. IT BEGINS WITH YOU. This is why I teach my daughter the basic value of RESPECT as all of us have a right to our PERSONHOOD. Discrimination has no place in my household.
Christopher John P. Lao
Entry # 2
[1] From the Statement delivered by Mrs. Navanethem Pillay, High Commissioner for Human Rights. www.ilga.org
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