Summary:
The Constitution of Kenya establishes a rights-based legal framework addressing the right to health, food, information, as well as children's rights.
Description:
The Constitution of Kenya establishes specific constitutional articles on food, marketing, labeling, and school environments. They are the legal foundation for other related policies in the country. The Constitution binds all persons and all State organs at both levels of government.
- Right to Food (Article 43 (c)). It guarantees every person the right “to be free from hunger, and to have adequate food of acceptable quality” . It creates the obligation on government to take measures to ensure access to adequate food of acceptable quality. Acceptable quality therefore means taking measures to promote healthy diets.
-
Children’s rights (Article 53 (1)). It states a general mandate on children’s rights, and on the best interest of children. However, it specifically provides the right to nutrition, granting every child a standalone right to “basic nutrition, shelter and health care.”
-
Right to Information (Article 35(1)). It establishes that citizens have a right to information required to protect their fundamental freedoms. Health advocates have been using this article to underpin food policies. The article also guarantees the right to “the correction or deletion of untrue or misleading information that affects the person”. This provides a constitutional defense against deceptive marketing.
-
Right to Health (Article 43(1)(a)). It protects the right to the highest attainable standard of health. In public health litigation, this article is tied to the state’s duty to control non-communicable diseases by regulating dietary risk factors.
- Consumer’s rights (Article 46(1)). It establishes, among different provisions, the right to the information on goods and services.