A/HRC/41/43/Add.2 critical role in the domestic economy, generating approximately 85 per cent of employment and 30 per cent of GDP.4 The economy remains highly dualistic, with a formal private sector employing 2.2 million persons operating alongside an informal sector of more than 14.1 million persons. 6. Economic growth in Kenya has been triggered by the national blueprint agenda, Kenya Vision 2030, 5 which aims to transform the country into a newly industrializing, middle-income country providing a high quality of life to all citizens by 2030 in a clean and secure environment, and in accordance with national priorities, outlined in the Big Four agenda. 6 The Big Four agenda comprises four pillars: manufacturing, food security and nutrition, universal health coverage and affordable housing. The country’s economic advancement has also been accompanied with progress towards implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, including reducing child and maternal mortality, securing universal primary education and closing the education gender gap. 7 However, despite a decline in the poverty rate from 46.6 per cent in 2005–2006 to 36.1 per cent in 2015–2016, poverty and economic inequality remain a critical challenge. 8 People living in rural areas are even more exposed to extreme levels of poverty and exclusion from human and economic growth.9 In response to these continuing challenges, Kenya should continue its human rights-based approach to sustainable development, with the aim of leaving no one behind. III. Legislative and policy framework 7. Kenya is a presidential representative democratic republic. The 2010 Constitution introduced a multiparty bicameral Parliament and a devolved county government system, with the creation of 47 semi-autonomous devolved counties to enhance peoples’ participation in the decision-making sphere. After the annulment of the presidential election of August 2017, Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta was elected President of the Republic for a second term in October 2017. 8. The Constitution protects several rights and freedoms, in accordance with international human rights law. 10 Furthermore, it enshrines the responsibility of business enterprises to respect human rights and the right to a clean and healthy environment. 11 The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, which was reconstituted in 2011, complies with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles).12 9. Kenya is party to the eight fundamental conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and has ratified a number of international and regional human rights conventions and treaties. Kenya issued a standing invitation to the special procedures of the Human Rights Council in January 2015 and was a member of the Human Rights Council from January 2013 to December 2018. Kenya is also a State party to the African Charter on 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Kenya, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, Micro, Small and Medium Establishments: Basic Report 2016 (Nairobi, 2016). See www.vision2030.go.ke/about-vision-2030. See www.big4.president.go.ke. The human development index was 0.473 in 1990 and 0.555 in 2015. Human Development Report 2016: Human Development for Everyone (United Nations Publication, Sales No. E.16.III.B.1). World Bank, “Poverty and equity brief: sub-Saharan Africa – Kenya”, April 2019. Available from http://databank.worldbank.org/data/download/poverty/33EF03BB-9722-4AE2-ABC7AA2972D68AFE/Global_POVEQ_KEN.pdf. The Gini coefficient for Kenya (47.7) is above the subSaharan Africa average for 2013 (43.8). United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UNDP Kenya: 2017 Annual Report (Nairobi, 2018). See articles 26–58 of the Constitution in the light of article 2, which recognizes that any treaty or convention ratified by Kenya and the general rules of international law form part of the law of Kenya. Ibid., art. 20, 42 and 260. Ibid., art. 59; Kenya National Commission on Human Rights Act, No. 14 of 2011; and General Assembly resolution 48/134. 3