317/06 The Nubian Community in Kenya vs The
Republic of Kenya
Communication 317/2006 - The Nubian Community in Kenya vs The Republic of Kenya
Summary of the Complaint
1. The Complaint was submitted by the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) and the Institute for Human
Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA) on behalf of the Nubian community of Kenya (the
Complainants), against the Republic of Kenya (State Party to the African Charter and hereinafter referred to
as Kenya).
2. According to the Complainants, the present Nubian community in Kenya, who number over one hundred
thousand (100,000), comprises descendants of ex-Sudanese forcefully conscripted into the colonial British
King's African Rifles Regiment in the early 1900s. The Nubians originally occupied the Nuba Mountains in
the central part of the Republic of The Sudan.
3. The Complainants allege that as a result of the conscription, the Nubian soldiers were taken to various
parts of British East Africa, including present- day Kenya, to assist the British in their military expeditions.
The colonial authorities did not grant British citizenship to the Nubians as they did to the Indian Railway
workers they had brought from India to Kenya for labour in the late 19th Century. As such, the Nubians
remained simply as British subjects under colonial rule and were not granted British citizenship. As
subjects, they were considered British protected persons.
4. After the British expeditions, it is alleged that the Nubians demanded to be returned to Sudan but their
demands were not met. They were left without any resettlement scheme in Kenya, neither were they
granted British citizenship. Members of the Nubian community in Kenya have lived in the Kibera slums in
Nairobi, and in Bondo, Kisumu, Kibos, Mumias, Meru, Isiolo, and Mazeras in Mombasa as well as the
Eldama Ravine, Tange-Kibigori, Sondu, Kapsabet, Migori and Kisii areas since they moved into Kenya in
the early 1900s and know no other home. There are many Nubians today whose grandparents known
oother home but Kenya, because hey were born there.
5. At Kenyan independence, in 1963, the citizenship status of the Nubians was not directly addressed, and
for a long period of time they were consistently treated by the government as "aliens." The Complainants
allege that even though these people qualify for Kenyan citizenship under the Kenyan Constitution and
consequently qualify for registration as Kenyan citizens, they have been denied their right to nationality.
They have also been denied Kenyan passports and National Identity Cards, and thus the benefits that
accrue from the possession of these documents. The lack of these documents and other citizenship rights
has, for example, led to the disenfranchisement and exclusion of the Nubian community from both the
political process and social development. The Complainants allege that the deliberate, systematic and
sustained denial of identity papers to the Nubian community and their non-recognition as Kenyan citizens
has also denied them basic services and led them to extreme poverty.
6. The Complainants claim that as de facto stateless people they are without legal protection. They remain
uneducated and are denied access to other civil, political, economic and cultural rights provided for under
the Kenyan Constitution and other regional and international human rights instruments that Kenya is a
signatory to. They remain landless and are exposed to arbitrary and uncompensated displacements from
their dwelling places throughout Kenya, and continue to be threatened with further displacements.
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