NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 17 – The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) Kenya, in partnership with the Kenya Judiciary Academy and the Center for Reproductive Rights, has launched the Right to Health Bench Book: Select Decisions, Issues, and Themes.
The publication is expected to serve as a critical resource for Judges, judicial officers, legal practitioners, and human rights defenders as they navigate the complex legal issues surrounding the right to health.
Speaking at the launch, ICJ Kenya’s Deputy Executive Director, Demas Kiprono, noted that the Bench Book will play acritical role in advancing human rights and improving judicial adherence to both national and international legal standards.
“The Bench Book will serve as a vital legal resource for judges and other judicial officers on matters relating to the right to health,” Kiprono stated.
“It is intended that the Bench Book will equip judicial officers, advocates, legal scholars, paralegals, government, civil society actors and the public with knowledge and information on emerging jurisprudence on the right to health in Kenya.”
The publication draws on recent Kenyan case law and international frameworks to provide guidance on various health-related legal issues, including reproductive healthcare, mental health, environmental health, and the social determinants of health.
It aims to ensure consistency and equity in rulings related to the right to health, reinforcing uniform decision-making in courts.
Supreme Court Justice Smokin Wanjala, who also spoke at the event, highlighted the Bench Book’s potential to enhance judicial consistency in health-related matters.
Wanjala said the book will serve as a reference point for judicial officers.
“When a judicial officer or a judge or a magistrate is confronted with an issue that has already been decided in this bench book it becomes easy for the judicial officer to make a reference and come up with a uniform decision,” he said.
Justice Wanjala added that the Bench Book will help eliminate contradictory rulings in health-related cases, fostering greater coherence in the country’s legal system.
Justice Wanjala further emphasized the role the Bench Book will play in expediting court cases.
“Justice delayed is justice denied and more so in questions revolving around the health of a human being and therefore when a decision is made by a court of law it should be expeditiously made and the bench book is going to contribute to that expedition,” he said.
“It will not take now very long time for judges or magistrate to go into research which has already been dealt with or covered in the benchmark contributing to that very great principle Justice delayed, justice denied.”
Present in the event was Joseph Kimani, Programme Manager Democratic Governance Health Team, and Martin Onyango Associate Director Legal, Center for Reproductive Rights among others.
