Kenya: Information on the treatment of the Asian community in Kenya

Asians; Kenya

 The U.S. Department of State Country Reports on Human

Rights Practices for 1990 (1991, 179) reports that in Kenya:

 Members of all ethnic groups may run for office, and

 ethnic representation at the minister and assistant

 minister level is broad. The Asian community,

 numbering about 65,000, accounts for a disproportionate

 share of the nation's economic wealth and output. Very

 few Asians participate in electoral politics.

 According to the World Directory of Minorities (1989,

224), Asians in Kenya, along with those in other East and Central

African nations, have been affected by two central trends since

the 1960s: the growing distinction between citizens and non-

citizens, and "'Africanization' policies whereby key areas of

economic and governmental activity were gradually assumed by

citizens, the vast majority of whom were indigenous Africans."

As in Uganda, in Kenya "Asian trading was restricted to scheduled

areas and trade in certain commodities such as staple foodstuffs

was restricted to citizens only" (Ibid., 224). The World

Directory of Minorities goes on to note that:

 Although Asians in East and Central Africa are not in

 general optimistic about their long-term future in the

 region, they cannot be described as a persecuted or

 harassed minority. They are however a visible one and

 could become a scapegoat in a violent situation or

 economic crisis, as appeared to happen in the abortive

 coup in Kenya in 1982 when some Asian women were raped

 and Asian shops looted. Yet Kenya also has an Asian

 MP, elected on a multi-racial basis. For most Asians

 their present situation is reasonably comfortable,

 their standard of living is good and they have complete

 religious and cultural freedom. Many Asians commute

 between the USA or UK and Africa and almost all have

 relatives established outside Africa (Ibid., 225).

For more information on the Africanization process in Kenya

please refer to the IRBDC Reply to Information Request KEN1611.

 The Norwegian Institute of Human Rights et al, in Human

Rights in Developing Countries (1989, 187), notes that Kenya

has not ratified the International Convention on the

Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the

African Charter on Human and People's Rights. The report

goes on to state that,

 The official, or officially tolerated, treatment of the

 Asian community in Kenya also raises issues of

 discrimination. At the end of 1987 the scandal

 concerning the failure to remit proceeds from coffee

 exports involved prominent Asian Businessmen and

 bankers. Charges against them were withdrawn in 1988

 (Ibid., 207).

 An Africa Confidential article from 1987 (24 June 1987)

states that:

 Asians in Kenya are conscious that they constitute not

 only a highly privileged ethnic minority but also a

 particularly visible one. Numbering some 60,000, they

 constitute less than one half of one per cent of the

 population. Yet they control over 70% of the lucrative

 urban retail trade and a disproportionately high share

 of the Gross National Product. Every Asian family is

 aware of how intensely their community is hated among

 an African population of about 18 million with whom its

 degree of integration has been almost non-existent.

 For further information about the treatment of the Asian

community in Kenya, please refer to the attachments provided.

Additional information on the subject is currently unavailable to

the IRBDC.

 Attachments:

Africa Confidential [London]. 24 June 1987. Vol. 28, No. 13.

"Kenya: The Asian Dilemma," pp. 5-7.

Minority Rights Group. World Directory of Minorities. 1989.

Essex: Longman Group UK Ltd., pp. 222-225.

 Bibliography:

Africa Confidential [London]. 24 June 1987. Vol. 28, No. 13.

"Kenya: The Asian Dilemma," pp. 5-7.

Minority Rights Group. World Directory of Minorities. 1989.

Essex: Longman Group UK Ltd., pp. 222-225.

Norwegian Institute of Human Rights et al. Human Rights in

Developing Countries 1989. 1989. Kehl, Strasbourg and

Arlington: N.P. Engel, Publisher.

U.S. Department of State. 1991. Country Reports on Human Rights

Practices for 1990. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office.