Centre For Minority Rights and Strategic Litigation

We continued our targeted legal aid service delivery in Taita Taveta through our partnership with HAPAKenya, creating a safe space for vulnerable community members to speak about human rights violations that often go unreported due to fear, stigma, and limited action from authorities.

As anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric continues to rise, many community members are facing increased threats, intimidation, violence, and exclusion. During the legal aid clinic, one participant shared:

“Vigilante gangs have been terrorizing us. They patrol under the guise of community policing and stop LGBTQ persons. Five people have already suffered, but many are afraid to report for fear of reprisals.”

This reflects a growing reality where fear of retaliation, mistrust in reporting systems, and perceived inaction embolden perpetrators and deepen vulnerability.

CMRSL remains committed to ensuring that LGBTQ+ persons and other marginalized communities can access legal support, document violations, understand their rights, and seek justice without fear. Every legal aid intervention is a step towards accountability, protection, and dignity.

For many vulnerable communities like LGBTQ and s*x workers, access to healthcare and access to justice are deeply connected.
1. A person unlawfully arrested may miss HIV treatment appointments.
2. A survivor of violence may avoid seeking medical care for fear of discrimination.
3. Someone facing blackmail or eviction may lose both their income and access to essential health services.

Through our partnership with ; CMRSL continues to support beneficiaries through legal aid, legal representation and rights awareness, and referrals when they face human rights violations

By advancing both health justice and access to justice, we are helping ensure that vulnerable community members can access healthcare, live free from violence, protect their rights, and seek redress when those rights are violated.

Knock ! Knock !

CMRSL welcomes the High court judgement arising from petition 27 of 2020- Audrey Mbugua & 2 others. This rights based ruling has reaffirmed the constitution and Bill of human rights protections.

For many transgender persons , this ruling is more than a legal decision — it is a moment of being seen.

The ability to amend a gender marker speaks to dignity, safety, and moving through everyday life without constant questioning, exposure, or exclusion. It offers recognition of experiences that have too often been pushed to the margins.

Congratulations team for the land mark win in advancing Transgender human rights.

For many LGBTQ+ persons, democracy has meant watching their humanity debated publicly while surviving privately in fear.

This years theme “at the heart of democracy”, is a reminder that conversations about democracy and LGBTQ+ human rights is not abstract. A democracy cannot claim to protect human rights while some people are denied safety, dignity, and freedom simply because of who they are or who they love.

The resilience and resistance of LGBTQ+ organizing have demonstrated that , we are not outside democracy — we are part of its people, its struggles, and its future.

CMRSL participated in the UN Convention Against Torture (UNCAT) shadow reporting process convened by & ; to bring forward the lived realities of LGBTQI+ persons at the Kenyan coast — including, political & religious rhetoric police violence, forced evictions, online violence, blackmail, mob attacks, and other forms of degrading treatment faced by q***r communities.

Through this engagement, we amplified community experiences and evidence from our legal aid clinics , criminal defense cases and other human rights work to ensure that violations affecting LGBTQI + persons are not erased from accountability and human rights conversations.