Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T17:31:21.283Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, Women and Digital ID in Kenya: A Decolonial Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2022

Grace Mutung’u Open the ORCID record for Grace Mutung’u [Opens in a new window]
Grace Mutung’u*
Affiliation:
University of Nairobi, School of Law, Kenya
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Inspired by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the international development community is driving digital ID programmes in low and middle income countries (LMICs) such as Kenya. Kenya has had experience with state-issued identity registration such as that proposed in digital ID programmes for over a century. Identity registration has gendered impacts, stemming from the historical exclusion of women in the system, lack of recognition of their contribution to new uses of the system, as well as lack of engagement with women regarding remedies. Digital ID risks continuing and exacerbating these injustices, as it is based on the existing system. This article uses the ‘protect, respect, remedy’ framework of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights to analyse how decolonial approaches could be applied in digital ID to untangle it from colonial legacies, check the ever-increasing power of businesses involved in digital ID systems, and broaden intersectional understanding of human rights.

Keywords

decolonialitydigital IDKenyaSDG 16.9women
Type
Scholarly Article
Information
Business and Human Rights Journal , Volume 7 , Issue 1: Special Issue: From Formalism to Feminism: Gender, Business and Human Rights , February 2022 , pp. 117 - 133
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Tamale, Sylvia, Decolonization and Afro Feminism (Ottawa: Daraja Press, 2020) 385.Google Scholar

2 World Bank Group, ‘The Digital Economy for Africa Initiative’, https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/all-africa-digital-transformation (accessed 2 November 2021).

3 The Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2018 (Kenya) 315.

4 Swahili for ‘service number’.

5 World Bank Group, note 2.

6 Vyjayanti T Desai, Anna Diofasi and Jing Lu, ‘The Global Identification Challenge: Who Are the 1 Billion People Without Proof of Identity?’, World Bank Blogs (25 April 2018), https://blogs.worldbank.org/voices/global-identification-challenge-who-are-1-billion-people-without-proof-identity (accessed 2 November 2021); World Bank Group, ‘World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends’ (2016), https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2016 (accessed 10 November 2021).

7 Olivia White et al, ‘Digital Identification: A Key to Inclusive Growth’ (2019), https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/digital-identification-a-key-to-inclusive-growth (accessed 2 November 2021).

8 Privacy International, ‘A Guide to Litigating Identity Systems’, https://privacyinternational.org/learning-resources/guide-litigating-identity-systems (accessed 10 November 2021); AccessNow, ‘National Digital Identity Programmes: What’s Next?’ (2018), https://www.accessnow.org/cms/assets/uploads/2019/11/Digital-Identity-Paper-Nov-2019.pdf (accessed 10 November 2021).

9 Mutung’u, Grace and Rutenberg, Isaac, ‘Digital ID and Risk of Statelessness’ (2020) 2:2 The Statelessness and Citizenship Review 348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

10 Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, Initiative for Social and Economic Rights and Unwanted Witness, ‘Chased Away and Left to Die: How a National Security Approach to Uganda’s National Digital ID Has Led to Wholesale Exclusion of Women and Older Persons’ (2021), https://www.iser-uganda.org/publications/reports/488-chased-away-and-left-to-die (accessed 10 November 2021).

11 Manby, Bronwen, ‘The Sustainable Development Goals and “Legal Identity for All”: “First, Do No Harm”’ (2021) 139 World Development 105343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

12 GSMA, ‘Connected Women: The Mobile Gender Gap Report 2021’ (2021), https://www.gsma.com/r/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/The-Mobile-Gender-Gap-Report-2021.pdf (accessed 2 November 2021).

13 Shamira Ahmed, ‘A Gender Perspective on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in the African FinTech Ecosystem: Case Studies from South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana’, Research ICT Africa (2021), https://researchictafrica.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Ahmed.pdf (accessed 10 November 2021); Neema Iyer, Chenai Chair and Garnett Achieng, ‘Afrofeminist Data Futures’ (2021), https://internationalwim.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Afrofeminist-Data-Futures-Report-ENGLISH.pdf (accessed 2 November 2021).

14 Iyer, Chair and Achieng, note 13.

15 Nyabola, Nanjala, Digital Democracy, Analogue Politics: How the Internet Era Is Transforming Politics in Kenya (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

16 Buolamwini, Joy and Gebru, Timnit, ‘Gender Shades: Intersectional Accuracy Disparities in Commercial Gender Classification’ (2018) 81 Proceedings of Machine Learning Research 77.Google Scholar

17 Neema Iyer et al, ‘Automated Imperialism, Expansionist Dreams: Exploring Digital Extractivism in Africa’ (2021), https://pollicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Automated-Imperialism-Expansionist-Dreams-Exploring-Digital-Extractivism-in-Africa.pdf (accessed 2 November 2021); Tamale, note 1, 385.

18 Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Sabelo J, ‘Decoloniality as the Future of Africa’ (2015) 13:10 History Compass 485.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

19 Tamale, note 1, chapter 1.

20 Ibid, 17.

21 Achille Mbembe, ‘Decolonizing Knowledge and the Question of the Archive’ (2015), https://wiser.wits.ac.za/system/files/Achille%20Mbembe%20-%20Decolonizing%20Knowledge%20and%20the%20Question%20of%20the%20Archive.pdf (accessed 2 November 2021).

22 Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Sabelo J, ‘The Entrapment of Africa Within the Global Colonial Matrices of Power: Eurocentrism, Coloniality, and Deimperialization in the Twenty-first Century’ (2013) 29:4 Journal of Developing Societies 331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

23 Mire, Amina, ‘In/Through the Bodies of Women: Rethinking Gender in African Politics’ (2001) 8:1 Polis/R.C.S.P./C.P.S.R. 1, 17.Google Scholar

24 Mutua, Makau, Human Rights Standards: Hegemony, Law, and Politics (New York: State University of New York, 2016).Google Scholar

25 Shagun Priya and Aditi Priya, ‘Even in Delhi, Basing PDS on Aadhaar Is Denying Many the Right to Food’, The Wire (25 October 2016), https://thewire.in/rights/right-to-food-how-aadhaar-in-pds-is-denying-rights (accessed 10 November 2021); Vrinda Bhandari, ‘Use of Digital ID for Delivery of Welfare’, SSRN (2020), https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=3668118 (accessed 2 November 2021); Amiya Bhatia, Elizabeth Donger and Jacqueline Bhabha, ‘“Without an Aadhaar Card Nothing Could Be Done”: A Mixed Methods Study of Biometric Identification and Birth Registration for Children in Varanasi, India’ (2020) 27:1 Information Technology for Development 129; Chopra, Deepta, Williams, Philippa and Vira, Bhaskar, ‘Politics of Citizenship: Experiencing State–Society Relations From the Margins’ (2011) 19:3 Contemporary South Asia 243 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Pam Dixon, ‘A Failure to “Do No Harm” – India’s Aadhaar Biometric ID Program and Its Inability to Protect Privacy in Relation to Measures in Europe and the U.S.’ (2017) 7 Health and Technology 539; Jean Drèze and Reetika Khera, ‘Recent Social Security Initiatives in India’ (2017) 98 World Development 555; Malavika Jayaram, ‘India’s Big Brother Project’, Boston Review (19 May 2014), https://bostonreview.net/world/malavika-jayaram-india-unique-identification-biometrics (accessed 2 November 2021).

26 Maaza Mengiste, ‘What Makes a “Real African”?’, The Guardian (7 July 2013), https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jul/07/african-writers-caine-prize (accessed 2 November 2021); Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Decolonising the Mind: the Politics of Language in African Literature (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1986).

27 WorldsStateless.Org, ‘Stateless Persons in Africa’, http://www.worldsstateless.org/continents/africa/stateless-persons-in-africa (accessed 10 October 2021).

28 Examples include the Nubians, Shona and Makonde who are Africans but othered and discriminated in access to identity documentation. Mutung’u and Rutenberg, note 9; KHRC, ‘African Missionaries in Identity Limbo: The Shona of Kenya’ (2020), https://www.khrc.or.ke/publications/221-african-missionaries-in-identity-limbo-the-shona-of-kenya/file.html (accessed 10 November 2021); UNHCR, Haki Centre and OSIEA, Integrated, But Undocumented: A Study Into the Nationality Status of the Makonde Community in Kenya (Nairobi: UNHCR, 2015).

29 Escobar, Arturo, Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World (Princeton University Press, 1995) chapter 2.Google Scholar

30 Kang’ara, Sylvia Wairimu, ‘When the Pendulum Swings Too Far: Structural Adjustment Programs in Kenya’ (2000) 15 Third World Legal Studies 109.Google Scholar

31 World Bank Group, note 2.

32 UN General Assembly, ‘Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’, A/RES/70/1 (21 October 2015).

33 Sachs, Wolfgang, ‘The Development Dictionary Revisited’, in Kothari, Ashish et al (eds.), Pluriverse: A Post-Development Dictionary (New Delhi: Tulika Books, 2019) xi.Google Scholar

34 Although Perry considers private financing for climate change, the analysis on coloniality of financing for development is relevant for digital development. Keston K Perry, ‘The New “Bond-Age”, Climate Crisis and the Case for Climate Reparations: Unpicking Old/New Colonialities of Finance for Development Within the SDGs’ (2021) 126 Geoforum 361.

35 Breckenridge, Keith, ‘The Failure of the ‘Single Source of Truth’ About Kenyans: The NDRS, Collateral Mysteries and the Safaricom Monopoly’ (2019) 78 Journal of African Studies 91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

36 Taylor, Linnet, ‘What Is Data Justice? The Case for Connecting Digital Rights and Freedoms Globally’ (2017) 4:2 Big Data and Society 1 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; James Ferguson, Give a Man a Fish: Reflections on the New Politics of Distribution (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2015).

37 Mbembe, Achille, ‘At the Centre of the Knot’ (2012) 38:1 Social Dynamics: A Journal of African Studies 8 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Tamale, note 1, 22; Sabelo J Ndlovu-Gatsheni, ‘Revisiting the African Renaissance’, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics (2019), https://oxfordre.com/politics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228637-e-720 (accessed 2 November 2021).

38 Jaap van der Straaten, ‘The High Cost of Legal Identity in Africa’, SSRN (2015), https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=3551926 (accessed 2 November 2021).

39 Ndlovu-Gatsheni, note 18.

40 Ndlovu-Gatsheni, note 22.

41 Sánchez, Davinia Gómez, ‘Transforming Human Rights Through Decolonial Lens’ (2020) 15 The Age of Human Rights Journal 276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

42 Ruggie, John Gerard, Rees, Caroline and Davis, Rachel, ‘Ten Years After: From UN Guiding Principles to Multi-Fiduciary Obligations’ (2021) 6:2 Business and Human Rights Journal 179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

43 Srinivasan, Vasanthi and Venkatachalam, Parvathy, ‘A Decade of UNGPs in India: Progressive Policy Shifts, Contested Implementation’ (2021) 6:2 Business and Human Rights Journal 279 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Peter Muchlinski, ‘The Impact of the UN Guiding Principles on Business Attitudes to Observing Human Rights’ (2021) 6:2 Business and Human Rights Journal 212.

44 For example, Ranking Digital Rights, ‘Ranking Digital Rights Corporate Accountability Index’, https://rankingdigitalrights.org/index2020/ (accessed 10 November 2021); Gennie Gebhart, ‘Who Has Your Back? Censorship Edition 2019’, Electronic Frontier Foundation (12 June 2019), https://www.eff.org/wp/who-has-your-back-2019 (10 November 2021); Global Network Initiative, ‘The GNI Principles’, https://globalnetworkinitiative.org/gni-principles (accessed 10 November 2021); Telecommunications Industry Dialogue, ‘Guiding Principles’, http://www.telecomindustrydialogue.org/about/guiding-principles/ (accessed 10 November 2021).

45 For example, the leading mobile communications network operator Safaricom has in recent years issued ESG reports that list the company’s performance in relation to sustainability. Safaricom, ‘Resilience Through Transition: 2020 Sustainable Business Report’, https://www.safaricom.co.ke/sustainabilityreport_2020/ (accessed 2 November 2021).

46 Safaricom, ‘Business Ethics, Governance, Risk and Regulation’, https://www.safaricom.co.ke/sustainabilityreport_2018/our-material-topics/business-ethics-governance-risk-and-regulation/ (accessed 10 November 2021).

47 OHCHR, ‘B-Tech Project’, https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Business/Pages/B-TechProject.aspx (accessed 19 August 2021).

48 Republic of Kenya, ‘National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights for the Implementation of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights’ (2019), https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Business/NationalPlans/2019_FINAL_BHR_NAP.PDF (accessed 10 November 2021).

49 Karin Buhmann, Jonas Jonsson and Mette Fisker, ‘Do No Harm and Do More Good Too: Connecting the SDGs With Business and Human Rights and Political CSR Theory’ (2019) 19 Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society 389.

50 Human Rights Council, ‘Gender Dimensions of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights’, A/HRC/41/43 (23 May 2019).

51 Barasa, Nancy, ‘Lost Between Rhetoric and Reality: What Role for the Law and Human Rights in Redressing Gender Inequality?’ (2008) 2 Kenya Law Journal 1.Google Scholar

52 Ibid, 27.

53 This definition is derived from several policy documents attempting to define ‘digital ID’, which is a novel term. See, for example, World Bank Group, ‘Principles on Identification for Sustainable Development: Toward the Digital Age’ (2017), https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/213581486378184357/pdf/Principles-on-Identification-for-Sustainable-Development-Toward-the-Digital-Age.pdf (accessed 10 November 2021); USAID, ‘Identity in a Digital Age: Infrastructure for Inclusive Development’ (2017), https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/15396/IDENTITY_IN_A_DIGITAL_AGE.pdf (accessed 10 November 2021); Caribou Digital, ‘Kenya’s Identity Ecosystem’ (2019), https://www.cariboudigital.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Kenyas-Identity-Ecosystem.pdf (accessed 10 November 2021).

54 These were contained in an amendment to the 1947 law on registration of persons. Registration of Persons Act 2012 (Kenya) sections 5 and 9A; notably, collection of DNA and GPS was stopped by the High Court in 2020: Nubian Rights Forum and 2 Others v Attorney-General and 6 Others; Child Welfare Society and 8 Others (Interested Parties) [2020] Consolidated Petitions No. 56, 58 and 59 of 2019 (High Court of Kenya, Nairobi) eKLR, 1047 (I).

55 Mariana Dahan and Alan Gelb, ‘The Role of Identification in the Post-2015 Development Agenda’ (2015), https://www.cgdev.org/sites/default/files/CGD-Essay-Dahan-Gelb-Role-Identification-Post-2015-ID4D_0.pdf (accessed 10 November 2021).

56 IT Authority, ‘Government Enterprise Architecture – ICT Standards’, https://icta.go.ke/government-enterprise-architecture-ict-standards/ (accessed 10 November 2021).

57 World Bank Group, ‘Identification for Development (ID4D), Identification Systems Analysis: Kenya Country Assessment’ (2016), https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/24980/Kenya000Identi0ion0systems0analysis.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y (accessed 2 November 2021); White et al, note 7.

58 Beduschi, Ana, ‘International Migration Management in the Age of Artificial Intelligence’ (2020) 1 Migration Studies 1.Google Scholar

59 European Commission, ‘European Digital Identity’, https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/europe-fit-digital-age/european-digital-identity_en (accessed 10 November 2021).

60 European Commission, ‘A European Strategy for Data’, https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/strategy-data (accessed 2 November 2021).

61 Taylor, note 36.

62 Ferguson, note 36, 2.

63 Privacy International, note 8; AccessNow, note 8.

64 Nubian Rights Forum and 2 Others v Attorney-General and 6 Others; Child Welfare Society and 8 Others (Interested Parties), note 54.

65 Ibid.

66 Kedolwa Waziri, ‘The Ones Who Are, But Don’t Exist: Being Nubian, and Kenyan’, The Elephant (5 July 2019), https://www.theelephant.info/reflections/2019/07/05/the-ones-who-are-but-dont-exist-being-nubian-and-kenyan/ (accessed 2 November 2021).

67 KHRC, note 28, 10 and 12.

68 KNCHR, ‘An Identity Crisis? A Study on the Issuance of National Identity Cards in Kenya’ (2007), https://www.knchr.org/Portals/0/EcosocReports/KNCHR%20Final%20IDs%20Report.pdf (accessed 10 November 2021).

69 World Bank Group, note 53, 12–21.

70 Taylor, note 36.

71 Tamale, note 1, 395.

72 This was issued under the Native Registration Act (1915), where all African males over the age of 16 were required to register for kipande.

73 Tamale, note 1, 287.

74 Tamale, Sylvia, ‘Gender Trauma in Africa: Enhancing Women’s Links to Resources’ (2004) 48 Journal of African Law 50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

75 Registration of Domestic Servants Ordinance 1926 (Kenya).

76 Kabira, Nkatha, ‘Constitutionalizing Traveling Feminisms in Kenya’ (2019) 52 Cornell International Law Journal 137, 168.Google Scholar

77 Matthew Pelowski et al, ‘Why Don’t You Register Your Child? A Study of Attitudes and Factors Affecting Birth Registration in Kenya, and Policy Suggestions’ (2015) 51 Journal of Development Studies 881.

78 For example, single mothers complain of being asked for affidavits from the father of their children when seeking identity documentation. Caribou Digital, note 53, 13.

79 Native Registration Ordinance 1915 (Kenya) section 5.

80 Morgan, William TW, ‘The Ethnic Geography of Kenya on the Eve of Independence: The 1962 Census’ (2000) 54 Erdkunde 76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

81 Waziri, note 66.

82 Caroline Nalule, ‘Report on Citizenship Law: Kenya’ (2020), https://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/66749/RSC_GLOBALCIT_CR_2020_7.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y (accessed 2 November 2021) 11.

83 UNHCR and KHRC, ‘Kenya Dialogue on Gender Equality, Nationality and Statelessness’ (2014), https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/54f838564.pdf (accessed 1 November 2021).

84 Mamdani, Mahmood, ‘Beyond Settler and Native as Political Identities: Overcoming the Political Legacy of Colonialism’ (2001) 43 Comparative Studies in Society and History 651.Google Scholar

85 Morgan, note 80.

86 ‘The Real Kenyan Crisis’, The Elephant (28 October 2017), https://www.theelephant.info/videos/2017/10/28/watch-the-real-kenyan-crisis/ (accessed 2 November 2021).

87 Pelowski et al, note 77.

88 KHRC, note 28.

89 Ibid, 10. The KHRC, for example, documents experiences of stateless women who could not access maternity healthcare due to lack of the national ID.

90 Pelowski et al, note 77.

91 Nubian Rights Forum and 2 Others v Attorney-General and 6 Others; Child Welfare Society and 8 Others (Interested Parties), note 54.

92 Data Protection Act 2019 (Kenya) section 31.

93 Republic v Joe Mucheru, Cabinet Secretary Ministry of Information Communication and Technology & 2 Others Ex Parte Katiba Institute & Another; Immaculate Kasait, Data Commissioner (Interested Party) (2021).

94 UPR Info, ‘Kenya Review on 23 January 2020 – Civil Society and Other Submissions’, https://www.upr-info.org/en/review/Kenya/Session-35---January-2020/Civil-society-and-other-submissions#top (accessed 10 November 2021).

95 Rutazibwa, Olivia Umurerwa, ‘What If We Took Autonomous Recovery Seriously? A Democratic Critique of Contemporary Western Ethical Foreign Policy’ (2013) 20 Ethical Perspectives 81.Google Scholar

96 Tamale, note 1, 220.

97 Bhandari, note 25.

98 Mamdani, Mahmood, ‘Beyond Settler and Native as Political Identities: Overcoming the Political Legacy of Colonialism’ (2001) 43 Comparative Studies in Society and History 651 Google Scholar; Sabelo J Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Do ‘Zimbabweans’ Exist?: Trajectories of Nationalism, National Identity Formation and Crisis in a Postcolonial State (Berlin: Peter Lang Publishing, 2009).

99 Registration of Persons Act, note 54, section 14.

100 Republic v Joe Mucheru, note 93, 40.

101 KNCHR, note 68, 6.

102 Republic v Joe Mucheru, note 93, 40.

103 Registration of Persons Act, note 54, section 9A.

104 Ministry of Education, ‘NEMIS Manual’ (2017), https://www.education.go.ke/index.php/downloads/file/425-nemis-manual (accessed 2 November 2021).

105 Antony Gitonga, ‘Put Learners on Nemis or No Funds: CS’, The Standard (9 January 2020), https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/education/article/2001355788/cs-magohas-directive-on-nemis (accessed 2 November 2020).

106 ‘31 Suspects Arraigned in Court But Not Required to Plead – Kenya News Agency’, Kenya News Agency (5 November 2019), https://www.kenyanews.go.ke/31-suspects-arraigned-in-court-but-not-required-to-plead/ (accessed 10 November 2021); Benjamin Muriuki, ‘Warning to All Students as DCI Announces Tough Disciplinary Measure’, Citizentv.co.ke (8 July 2018), https://citizentv.co.ke/news/warning-to-all-students-as-dci-announces-tough-disciplinary-measure-206224/ (accessed 10 November 2021); David Muchunguh, ‘DCI to Keep Records of Students Involved in Criminal Conduct’, Daily Nation (26 January 2021), https://nation.africa/kenya/news/-dci-keep-record-juvenile-crimes-3268792?view=htmlamp (accessed 10 November 2021).

107 Parliament of Kenya, ‘Motion on Establishment of Database Centres in Civil Registration Centres in the Country’ (2020), http://www.parliament.go.ke/sites/default/files/2020-11/Hansard%20Report%20-%20Thursday%2C%205th%20November%202020%20%28A%29.pdf (accessed 10 November 2021).

108 Norwegian Refugee Council and IHRC, ‘Recognising Nairobi’s Refugees: The Challenges and Significance of Documentation Proving Identity and Status’ (2017), https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/pdf/reports/refugees-in-nairobi/recognising-nairobis-refugees.pdf (accessed 10 November 2021).

109 Modesta Ndubi, ‘UNHCR Conducts Joint Verification of Refugees With the Government of Kenya’, UNHCR (24 February 2017), https://www.unhcr.org/ke/10374-unhcr-conducts-joint-verification-refugees-government-kenya.html (accessed 10 November 2021).

110 Stephen Astariko, ‘Relief as State Pardons Kenyans Registered as Refugees’, The Star (8 November 2019), https://www.the-star.co.ke/counties/north-eastern/2019-11-08-relief-as-state-pardons-kenyans-registered-as-refugees/ (accessed 2 November 2021).

111 Haki na Sheria Initiative, ‘The Plight of #DoubleRegistered Victims in Kenya’, Haki Sheria (17 December 2020), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJQhXGTEipM (accessed 2 November 2021).

112 KNCHR and UNHCR, Out of the Shadows: Towards Ensuring the Rights of Stateless Persons and Persons at Risk of Statelessness in Kenya (Nairobi: UNHCR, 2010); KNCHR, note 68.

113 GPE Secretariat, ‘A New Web-Based Tool Is Poised to Transform Education Management and Delivery in Kenya’, GPE Transforming Education (31 July 2017), https://www.globalpartnership.org/blog/new-web-based-tool-poised-transform-education-management-and-delivery-kenya (accessed 2 November 2021); Ndubi, note 109.

114 Pelowski et al, note 77.

115 Ministry of Health, ‘Covid-19 Registry’, https://portal.health.go.ke/ (accessed 2 November 2021).

116 Barasa, Nancy, ‘Lost Between Rhetoric and Reality: What Role for the Law and Human Rights in Redressing Gender Inequality?’ (2008) 2 Kenya Law Journal 1.Google Scholar

117 Karari, Peter, ‘Modus Operandi of Oppressing the “Savages”: The Kenyan British Colonial Experience’ (2018) 25 Peace and Conflict Studies Journal 1.Google Scholar

118 Keren Weitzberg, ‘Biometrics, Race Making, and White Exceptionalism: The Controversy Over Universal Fingerprinting in Kenya’ (2020) 61 The Journal of African History 23; Karari, note 117.

119 The Kenya Citizens and Foreign Nationals Management Service Act No. 31 of 2011 (Kenya).

120 Privacy International, ‘Fintech: Privacy and Identity in the New Data-Intensive Financial Sector’ (2017), https://privacyinternational.org/sites/default/files/2017-12/Fintech%20report.pdf (accessed 2 November 2021).

121 World Economic Forum, ‘A Blueprint for Digital Identity: The Role of Financial Institutions in Building Digital Identity’ (2016), https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_A_Blueprint_for_Digital_Identity.pdf (accessed 2 November 2021).

122 GSMA, note 12.

123 Wanjiku Mukabi Kabira and Elishiba Njambi Kimani, ‘The Historical Journey of Women’s Leadership in Kenya’ (2012) 3 Journal of Emerging Trends in Educational Research and Policy Studies 842.

124 Ibid; Wairimú Ngarúiya Njambi, ‘Irua Ria Atumia and Anti-Colonial Struggles Among the Gĩkũyũ of Kenya: A Counter Narrative on Female Genital Mutilation’ (2007) 33 Critical Sociology 689.

125 Peter Wamalwa, Irene Rugiri and Julienne Lauler, ‘Digital Credit, Financial Literacy and Household Indebtedness’, KBA Centre for Research on Financial Markets and Policy Working Paper (2019), https://www.kba.co.ke/downloads/WPS-08-2019.pdf (accessed 2 November 2021); Emma Park and Kevin P Donovan, ‘Perpetual Debt in the Silicon Savannah’, Boston Review (14 August 2019), https://bostonreview.net/class-inequality-global-justice/kevin-p-donovan-emma-park-perpetual-debt-silicon-savannah (accessed 10 November 2021).

126 DFS Lab, Caribou Digital and Caribou Data, ‘Payment System Design and the Financial Inclusion Gender Gap – Will Implementing the Level One Project Principles Benefit Women?’ (2021), https://www.leveloneproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Payment_System_Design_and_the_Financial_Inclusion_Gender_Gap.pdf (accessed 10 November 2021).

127 Park and Donovan, note 125.

128 Deva, Surya, ‘The UN Guiding Principles’ Orbit and Other Regulatory Regimes in the Business and Human Rights Universe: Managing the Interface’ (2021) 6:2 Business and Human Rights Journal 336 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Ruggie et al, note 42.

129 Jägers, Nicola, ‘UN Guiding Principles at 10: Permeating Narratives or Yet Another Silo?’ (2021) 6:2 Business and Human Rights Journal 198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

130 Paz Peña and Joana Varon, ‘Decolonising AI: A Transfeminist Approach to Data and Social Justice’ (2019), https://giswatch.org/sites/default/files/gisw2019_web_th4.pdf (accessed 2 November 2021).

131 Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology (CIPIT), ‘Privacy and Data Protection Practices of Digital Lending Apps in Kenya’ (2021) 1 Journal of Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law 131.

132 Weitzberg, note 118.

133 Breckenridge, Keith, Biometric State (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

134 Alfred Ong’era and Beverly Muthoki Musili, ‘Public Sector Reforms in Kenya: Challenges and Opportunities’, The Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis Working Paper No. 29 (2019), http://repository.kippra.or.ke/handle/123456789/2105 (accessed 10 November 2021) 10.

135 Rogier Creemers, ‘China’s Social Credit System: An Evolving Practice of Control’, SSRN (2018), https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3175792 (accessed 2 November 2021).

136 The Kenya Information and Communications (Registration of SIM-Cards) Regulations 2015 (Kenya); Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act 2018 (Kenya) part IV.

137 Edwin Mutai, ‘State Releases Sh1.5bn for Safaricom’s Police Cameras Deal’, Business Daily (18 September 2020), https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/bd/news/state-releases-sh1-5bn-for-safaricom-s-police-cameras-deal-2294414 (accessed 2 November 2021).

138 Privacy International, ‘Track, Capture, Kill: Inside Communications Surveillance and Counterterrorism in Kenya’ (2017), https://privacyinternational.org/sites/default/files/2017-10/track_capture_final.pdf (accessed 10 November 2021).

139 For example, a study on biometrics use in Europe noted that consent obtained for use of biometrics in identification advanced biometrics such as facial and emotional recognition calls on the European Parliament to separate definitions of biometrics and biometrics-based data in view of the wide uses that consent for use of biometrics may be put. European Parliament, ‘Biometric Recognition and Behavioural Detection’ (2021), https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2021/697131/IPOL_BRI(2021)697131_EN.pdf (accessed 10 November 2021).

140 March, Hug, ‘Smart Cities’ in Kothari, Ashish et al (eds.), Pluriverse: A Post-Development Dictionary (New Delhi: Tulika Books, 2019) 68 Google Scholar; Michael Kwet, ‘Digital Colonialism: US Empire and the New Imperialism in the Global South’ (2019) 60 Race & Class 3.

141 Kwet, note 140.

142 Registration of Persons Act, note 54, section 9A(3).

143 Parliament of Kenya, ‘Petition: Lack of Access to Citizen Registration Services by Residents of Garissa and Wajir Counties’ (2021), http://parliament.go.ke/sites/default/files/2021-03/Hansard%20Report%20-%20Tuesday%2C%2023rd%20March%202021%20%28P%29.pdf (accessed 10 November 2021) 2; Parliament of Kenya, ‘Motion on Establishment of Database Centres in Civil Registration Centres in the Country’ (2020), http://www.parliament.go.ke/sites/default/files/2020-11/Hansard%20Report%20-%20Thursday%2C%205th%20November%202020%20%28A%29.pdf (accessed 2 November 2021); Nubian Rights Forum and 2 Others v Attorney-General and 6 Others; Child Welfare Society and 8 Others (Interested Parties), note 54.

144 Data Protection Act, note 92, sections 26 and 27.

145 Ibid, 30 and 51.

146 Ibid, 27.

147 Ibid, 31.

148 Black Sash, ‘Submission to UN General Assembly on Digital Technology, Social Protection and Human Rights’ (2019), http://www.blacksash.org.za/images/Submissions/170519_UN_Submission_Final.pdf (accessed 10 November 2021) para 2.4.

149 Ibid.

150 Bonita Meyersfeld and Khuraisha Patel, ‘Spotlight on Investors’ Lack of Oversight in Social Grants Fiasco’, Business Live (12 April 2017), https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/2017-04-12-spotlight-on-investors-lack-of-oversight-in-social-grants-fiasco/ (accessed 10 November 2021).

151 Human Rights Council, ‘Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework’, A/HRC/17/31 (21 March 2011) principle 18.

152 Umurerwa Rutazibwa, note 95.

153 Tamale, note 1, 343.