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MEADVILLE, Pa. – Oct. 24, 2010 – John Imanene, the lead investigator for a Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights’ probe into the extra-judicial killings and forced disappearances in Kenya in 2007, will present a talk at Allegheny College about his life in Kenya, the investigation and his work in America since that time. The lecture will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 26, in Schultz Banquet Hall.

Imanene’s investigation led to a report that found the Kenyan security forces complicit in the crimes, findings subsequently corroborated in a report by Philip Alston, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

The two reports were presented to the 11th session of U.N. Human Rights Council where the government of Kenya, represented by five cabinet ministers, acknowledged government complicity in the killings, which started in 2000. As a result, the government agreed to reform the judiciary, the police force and the entire criminal justice system.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights is an autonomous national human rights institution established by an act of parliament in 2002.  Its core mandate is to act as a watchdog over the government in order to further the protection and promotion of human rights in Kenya.  The United Nations encourages governments to create national human rights institutions as a strategy to better protect and promote human rights.

Imanene’s visit is made possible by the Allegheny student Amnesty International Club and is part of the College’s Year of Global Citizenship, a series of events and activities aimed at enhancing our understanding of what it means to be a citizen in an increasingly globalized world.  For more information, contact schneie@allegheny.edu.