LLB Research Projects (2024)

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Breaking down barriers: analysing the need to reform Kenya's Prevention of Terrorism Act to ensure access to principled humanitarian aid
(Strathmore University, 2024) Ikawa, M.
Humanitarian aid organisations are tasked with ensuring that impartial neutral assistance is given to those who need it the most. Where armed conflict exists, humanitarian actors often have to engage with the armed groups in order to fulfil their mandate of providing relief where it is needed. Armed groups in internal conflicts tend to be deemed as ‘terrorists’ by the state. This means that engagement with them by the humanitarian workers can constitute a crime under domestic counterterrorism legislation. Based on the hypothesis that of Kenya’s Prevention of Terrorism Act may serve as a barrier to the provision of principled humanitarian aid in the event of armed conflict, this study is conducted based on 3 main objectives: To determine the place of humanitarian aid organisations within the fight to combat terrorism during non-international armed conflicts: to assess whether Kenyan counterterrorism legislation, specifically the Prevention of Terrorism Act, could affect the provision of principled humanitarian assistance; and to examine what lessons Kenya can learn from The Philippines in order to balance humanitarian and counterterrorism objectives.