[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 15055]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     COMMEMORATING THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF THE KENYAN CONSTITUTION

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ROSA L. DeLAURO

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 6, 2011

  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, last August we witnessed a flowering of 
freedom in Eastern Africa. On August 5, 2010, Kenya endorsed a brand 
new constitution, which guaranteed all Kenyan citizens the rights to 
security, housing, food, life, freedom from discrimination and the 
freedom of expression, among others. I rise today to recognize the 
recent anniversary of this constitution's adoption, and to congratulate 
the Republic of Kenya on this remarkable step forward.
  Despite being home to the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace 
Prize--Wangari Maathi, who sadly passed away last month--Kenya had long 
treated women as second-class citizens. In the past, female candidates 
for office in that country have had to carry knives and wear extra 
garments to fend off the possibility of politically-motivated rape.
  But the new constitution has dramatically altered the status of women 
in Kenya. Among the over 40 new reforms is a non-discrimination clause 
outlawing bias on the basis of sex, pregnancy or marital status. 
Additionally, women can own and inherit land, and matrimonial property 
is protected during and after the termination of marriage. Customary 
law (a traditional practice that has come to be accepted as law), which 
is inconsistent with the constitution, is now void.
  This document does much to protect the rights of women within Kenya. 
But as anyone who lives in a democracy knows, such constitutional 
mechanisms must be followed by meaningful actions and constant 
vigilance to actually become reality.
  The nation of Kenya is facing many trials at the moment. The crisis 
in the Horn of Africa is killing, starving or displacing over 13 
million people. Drought conditions have persisted in the region. Food 
insecurity is affecting 3.75 million people, excluding refugees, in 
Kenya, and 4.3 million men, women, and children there desperately 
require humanitarian assistance. At its peak, Kenya and Ethiopia saw 
nearly 1,000 people a day arrive at refugee camps to escape the famine 
in Somalia. Sexual violence against women in these already overcrowded 
refugee camps is on the rise.
  There are no easy solutions to this crisis, and we in the United 
States must step up and do our part to help alleviate this suffering as 
well. Nonetheless, in face of these adversities, it is heartening to 
see Kenya's men and women move forward together, as equals and as 
partners. By empowering Kenyan women and rejecting gender-based 
discrimination, the new Kenyan constitution has paved the way for a 
brighter future for the Kenyan people.

                          ____________________