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CESCR Review of Kenya 2026: When Evidence Aligns with Accountability

CESCR Review of Kenya 2026: When Evidence Aligns with Accountability

On 27 February 2026, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) released its Concluding Observations on Kenya following the country’s sixth periodic review under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The review took place during the committee’s 79th session, during which we also submitted an oral statement highlighting our key concerns and recommendations to the Committee. 

 

Read our oral statement here:

Final CESCR 2026 Oral Statement
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Notably, several of the Committee’s findings reflect concerns and language developed in collaboration with national partners in 2026 and 2025. 

 

Read our 2026 submission here:

GI-ESCR and Partners Follow-Up Submission to CESCR on Fiscal Policies and the Rights to Education and Health
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The Committee’s observations highlight issues related to fiscal policy, taxation, health financing, education funding and civic space, issues that were central to the evidence and recommendations we submitted. 

 

Austerity, Debt and Shrinking Fiscal Space 

One of the clearest areas where the Committee’s observations reflect the submissions by GI-ESCR and partners is in its analysis of Kenya’s fiscal policy and public debt dynamics. 

The Committee expressed concern that austerity measures and limited fiscal space are constraining public expenditure on economic, social, and cultural rights. It warned that these fiscal conditions undermine poverty reduction efforts and restrict the State’s ability to redistribute wealth and income equitably. This language closely mirrors our submission, which highlighted that Kenya’s fiscal trajectory is increasingly characterised by austerity and rising debt servicing obligations that significantly constrain resources available for social spending. 

 

Regressive Taxation and Rising Cost of Living 

The Committee raised concern about Kenya’s continued reliance on regressive tax policies, noting the country’s heavy reliance on indirect taxes and minimal taxation of wealth, widespread tax evasion and avoidance, and the persistence of excessive tax exemptions. This language echoed the analysis we presented, which argued that the current revenue efforts rely largely on regressive taxation rather than progressive measures targeting high net worth individuals and multinational corporations. 

The Committee further noted that the recent Finance Acts increased Value Added Tax (VAT) and removed exemptions on essential goods and services, measures that risked increasing the cost of living and disproportionately affecting people living in poverty. This concern is reflected in the evidence we submitted with partners regarding the Finance Bill 2024, which warned that the proposed taxes on basic commodities such as bread and cooking oil places a heavier economic burden on low-income households. 

With regards to this issue, the Committee recommended that Kenya review its taxation and fiscal policies to make them more progressive and socially just, prioritising direct income and wealth taxation over excessive reliance on indirect taxes. 

The Committee also called for stronger measures to detect and prevent tax evasion and avoidance, including through: 

  • The operationalisation of the beneficial ownership register 
  • Enforcement of country-by-country reporting by multinational corporations 
  • Effective implementation of the automatic exchange of information framework 

These recommendations reflect our submission, which urged Kenya to strengthen domestic resource mobilisation by curbing revenue leakages and combating illicit financial flows. 

 

Human Rights Impact Assessments and Debt Accountability 

In its recommendations, the Committee called on Kenya to ensure that public debt and debt servicing do not constrain the budgetary space required to fulfil obligations under the Covenant, particularly in areas such as food, housing, social protection, health, education and culture. 

With regards to borrowing, the Committee recommended that both borrowing governments and lenders conduct transparent and participatory Human Rights Impact Assessments (HRIA) before contracting loans. This recommendation aligns closely with our call for human rights-based debt management practices that include conducting human rights-based debt sustainability analyses before major borrowing decisions and ensuring public disclosure of loan agreements and debt assessments to enable meaningful public scrutiny and participation. 

 

Transparency, Participation and Public Debate 

The Committee recommended that tax policymaking in Kenya be transparent, participatory and evidence based, and that the government conduct comprehensive assessments of the human rights and distributive impacts of tax policies. 

This recommendation echoes the concerns that we raised in our submissions regarding limited public participation in fiscal decision-making, particularly in the context of the Finance Bill 2024. The widespread protests that followed the bill’s introduction highlighted deep public dissatisfaction with regressive tax policies and the lack of meaningful public engagement in decisions affecting fiscal policies in the country. 

 

Right to Health 

The Committee reiterated the importance of ensuring that public debt and fiscal policies do not constrain the budgetary space needed to finance essential public services, including health. In doing so, it explicitly referenced the Abuja Declaration, which calls for governments to allocate at least 15% of national budgets to the health sector. This recommendation closely aligns with our submissions, which repeatedly emphasised that Kenya’s public health financing remains significantly below international benchmarks. 

 

Implementation of Social Health Insurance Reforms 

While the Committee welcomed the adoption of the Social Health Insurance Act (2023), the establishment of the Social Health Authority (SHA) and the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF). It however, expressed concern that many marginalised households remain excluded from health insurance coverage because they cannot afford the required premiums. 

This concern reflects the issues we raised in our submission regarding the implementation of SHIF, where we highlighted that the contribution model based on means testing may not adequately reflect the realities of Kenya’s largely informal economy and the unclear benefit packages could undermine financial protection and progress toward universal health coverage. 

The Committee therefore recommended that Kenya address shortcomings in the implementation of SHIF and ensure universal coverage regardless of economic capacity or contribution levels; a recommendation that aligns with our calls for equity-focused mechanisms that protect low-income populations. 

 

Persistent Inequalities in Access to Healthcare 

The Committee also expressed concern about persistent inequalities in access to healthcare, particularly affecting marginalised groups and people living in rural areas, arid and semi-arid lands, and informal settlements. These disparities were linked to inadequate health infrastructure, shortages of medical personnel, and limited availability of essential medicines and equipment. 

These findings mirror concerns we raised in our submissions about the continued underfunding of public healthcare, the resulting gaps in infrastructure, staffing and service delivery, and how these structural challenges have contributed to the widening inequalities in access to healthcare services across the country. 

The Committee therefore recommended that Kenya increase financial, human and technical resources for the public healthcare sector, including investing in hospitals, clinic and primary health centres, strengthening the health workforce, and ensuring a reliable supply of medicine and medical equipment. 

 

Right to Education 

The Committee’s observations on the right to education reflected continued concerns raised by GI-ESCR and partners regarding accessibility, availability and quality of education, particularly for disadvantaged and marginalised children, and the role of private actors in the education sector. 

 

Financing and the Quality of Public Education 

The Committee noted that many schools, especially in rural and disadvantaged areas, face chronic shortages of teachers, inadequate infrastructure and insufficient learning materials. It also observed that these structural constraints continue to affect the quality of education and the ability of the public education system to serve all learners effectively. 

These findings closely reflect concerns we raised regarding the allocation and use of education budgets. While Kenya allocates a significant share of its national budget to education, we highlighted that most of this funding is absorbed by recurrent expenditure, particularly teacher salaries, leaving limited resources for infrastructure development, learning materials and the broader investments required to support quality education. 

In response, the Committee recommended that Kenya increase budgetary allocations to the public education sector to guarantee free and quality education, including ensuring adequate funding for school infrastructure, trained and adequately compensated teachers, learning materials and inclusive education. 

The Committee also highlighted the need of ensuring quality primary education without hidden costs. This resonates with the evidence we had submitted demonstrating that stagnant capitation funding has forced some schools to impose informal levies on parents despite constitutional guarantees of free and compulsory basic education. 

 

Barriers to Access and the Persistence of Out-of-School Children 

The Committee also expressed concern about the high number of out-of-school children and elevated drop-out rates, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. It identified several barriers that continue to undermine school enrolment and retention, including poverty and nomadic lifestyles. 

These concerns mirror the issues we raised about structural barriers that prevent many children from accessing public education, particularly those from marginalised communities, informal settlements and remote regions.  

The Committee therefore recommended that Kenya implement targeted measures to reduce the number of out-of-school children including addressing the socio-economic barriers that prevent children from enrolling in and remaining in school. 

 

Regulation of Private Education and Alternative Provision of Basic Education and Training Schools 

The Committee also raised concerns regarding the insufficient regulation of the private education sector, particularly institutions operating under the APBET framework. 

This directly reflects concerns we raised about the growing reliance on low-cost private schools and APBET institutions, particularly in informal settlements where public schools are often overcrowded or unavailable. Our submissions highlighted that while these schools play an important role in expanding access to education, many operate in a regulatory grey area due to inconsistent or unclear regulatory frameworks, which raises concerns about quality oversight and compliance with human rights standards. 

The Committee therefore recommended that Kenya take the necessary measures to properly regulate and monitor APBET institutions, ensuring that they operate in accordance with human rights standards. This recommendation aligns closely with our call for stronger regulation of private education providers and clearer policy frameworks governing APBET schools. 

The Committee’s Concluding Observations provide an important opportunity to advance reforms that align Kenya’s fiscal and governance policies with its obligations under the ICESCR. The close alignment between several of the Committees' concerns and recommendations demonstrates the impact of evidence-based advocacy in shaping international accountability processes. 

Moving forward, GI-ESCR and partners will continue engaging policymakers, oversight institutions and communities to ensure that these recommendations translate into concrete policy reforms that protect fiscal space for essential public services and advance the realisation of ESC rights for all in Kenya. 

 

Read our reports on Kenya that helped inform our submissions: 

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Climate and Environmental Justice

We have advanced rights-based and gender-transformative transition frameworks through research that centres the lived experiences of women and marginalised communities on the frontlines of extractive energy policies, promoting climate and energy frameworks attentive to the social and care-related impacts of transition pathways. We have developed a clear vision for a gender-just transition, firmly rooted in gender and human rights norms, establishing both the legal basis and the direction for the transformative changes our planet and societies urgently need. In particular, the ‘Guiding Principles for Gender Equality and Human Rights in the Energy Transition’, a collective effort built through online consultations, an in-person workshop and multiple rounds of revision with activists, practitioners and experts from around the world, outline a transformative vision for reshaping global energy systems through a human rights and gender equality lens.

Our work recognises that the climate emergency is both an existential threat and an opportunity to reimagine societies built on social, gender, economic and environmental justice. We ground our advocacy in feminist and intersectional principles, prioritising the agency and perspectives of communities in the Global South who have contributed the least to the climate emergency yet face its most devastating consequences. Central to our approach is the understanding that energy is not merely a commodity but a fundamental human right; essential for dignity, health, education, work and the realisation of countless other rights. We challenge approaches to the energy transition that risk replicating the harmful patterns of fossil fuel extraction and, instead, advocate for transformative policies that ensure human rights and gender equality as central to building climate-resilient societies rooted in dignity, justice and planetary well-being.

What's next?

We will continue to challenge approaches that treat energy transition as merely a technical shift, instead positioning it as an opportunity to reimagine economies and societies rooted in dignity for all, with particular attention to communities in the Global South who have contributed least to the climate emergency yet are most exposed to its worst effects.

We will connect community-level evidence and the lived experiences of those on the frontlines of extractive policies to national reform and global norm-setting, breaking down silos between human rights, gender, and climate movements, and advancing a shared vision that recognises just transitions as not only fundamental to achieving climate-resilient and sustainable societies, but as transformative pathways that advance social and gender equality, redistribute power and resources equitably, and ensure that energy systems serve the public good rather than profit.

We will mainstream rights-based and genderjust transition priorities in key multilateral spaces (particularly, within the Just Transition Work Programme and the to-be-developed Just Transition Mechanism, within the UNFCCC) to guarantee that just transitions are advanced at all levels.

We will also translate our work, through strategic advocacy, into at least two concrete policy wins, whether promoted, adopted, implemented, or scaled, in priority countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, South Africa, or Kenya), ensuring these policies align with human rights standards, centre gender equality, and reflect the needs and views of affected communities.

We will build momentum for the progressive recognition of the right to sustainable energy to shift dominant narratives away from purely extractive solutions that sideline gendered impacts, community participation, and Global South perspectives.

Economic Justice and Climate Finance

Our work has transformed the global discussion on fiscal policy in a more just, emancipatory and sustainable direction. Our approach has combined both high-level, expert contributions within decisionmaking circles, with bold, impactful work on narrative change with the general public.

We have been instrumental in the inclusion of human rights as a guiding principle of the future United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, a multilateral instrument with the potential of raising approx. USD 492 billion per year in public revenues currently foregone to global tax abuse. In the process leading to the ‘Compromiso de Sevilla’ decided at FfD4, we proposed and succeeded in creating a specific human rights workstream within the Civil Society Financing for Development Mechanism, which was critical to ensure that explicit commitments on the matter were included in the negotiating outcome. In a context of cutbacks in multilateral institutions, we have amplified the capacities of technical experts, providing rigorous technical support and leveraging our influence to ensure the enactments of groundbreaking standard-setting instruments, such as the 2025 UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Statement on Fiscal Policy and Human Rights, and the first ex oficio hearing on the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights on Fiscal and Economic Policies to Address Poverty and Structural Inequality, leading to an upcoming thematic resolution on the matter. We have also bridged the silos between multilateral tax discussions and climate finance debates, promoting ambitious financing commitments to increase international and domestic resource mobilisation during COP 28, 29 and 30.

At the regional level, our engagement with fiscal cooperation platforms such as the Platform for Fiscal Cooperation of Latin America and the Caribbean (PTLAC), where we are member of its Civil Society Consultative Council, and the African Anti-IFFs Policy Tracker, for which we participated in the pilot mission in Ivory Coast together with Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA), have been critical in cementing a growing engagement between tax administrations and ministries of finance with international legal experts, exploring actionable and transformative initiatives, such as the taxation of high-net-worth individuals, beneficial ownership registries and corporate countryby-country reports, to be implemented at the international level.

At the local level, our interventions in fiscal reform debates in Chile, Brazil, Colombia and Nigeria have contributed to shaping legislative outcomes in a more progressive, rights-compliant direction.

As for our leadership in narrative change, we have a measurable track record in delivering tailored, innovative campaigns which have decisively expanded economic justice constituencies by appealing to a broader tent. In Latin America and the Caribbean, we created the ‘Date Cuenta’ campaign, coordinating over 40 organisations across civil society to deliver plain language, innovative messaging connecting progressive fiscal reforms to the financing of health, education and social protection. ‘Date Cuenta’ generated over 55 original campaign messages that were tailored to the realities of seven priority countries (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Honduras) and disseminated in Spanish, Portuguese and English. In doing so, we convened more than 65 online co-creation workshops with partners, coordinating a unified communications strategy which combined digital outreach, press and media coverage, and collaboration with influencers. Ultimately, ‘Date Cuenta’ resulted in more than 60,000 interactions on social media, coverage in major regional and international media outlets, including El País, Deutsche Welle, Bloomberg and France 24, and the participation of at least 63 social media influencers through 58 dedicated publications. In collaboration with Fundación Gabo and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, we also organised a two-day workshop in Bogota with 20 journalists from 13 countries, building a regional network trained in a human rights-based approach to fiscal policy that has since generated published media coverage on outlets such as La Diaria, Ciper, El Diario Ar and Milenio. Through ‘Date Cuenta’ and our regional advocacy, we strengthened civil society engagement in key processes, including the Financing for Development track and FfD4, co-organised highlevel dialogues with states and civil society from Latin America and Africa.

What's next?

We will shape the UN Tax Convention and its Protocols so they embed human rights principles, and we will stay engaged through follow-up processes (including the expected Conference of the Parties) to support effective implementation. We will keep linking tax and climate finance so that new resources mobilised through fiscal cooperation are channelled to adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage, in line with UNFCCC commitments.

Public Services for Care Societies

We have translated participatory research into accountability and policy outcomes.

In Ivory Coast, our work with Mouvement Ivoirien des Droits Humains and affected communities since 2023 exposed how privatisation and lack of accountability restrict access to quality healthcare. It contributed to the closure of 1,022 illegal private health centres, an executive instrument strengthening the regulation of private hospitals across the country, and the creation of a permanent complaints management committee in healthcare through a bylaw issued by the prefect of Gagnoa. Partners engaged through this process also advanced concrete improvements at facility level: members of the Gagnoa Midwives Association who took part in the participatory action research pooled resources to renovate the neonatal unit of the Regional Hospital, and the Director of the Gagnoa General Hospital launched an action plan to expand services and improve patient reception, with the facility receiving the award for best hospital in the country in 2025.

In Kenya, our research with the Mathare Education Taskforce documented the absence of public schools and the expansion of private provision, evidencing impacts on households and caregivers and strengthening demands for free, quality public education. This work contributed to stronger community agency and collective organisation, alongside ongoing strategies ranging from communications to litigation to secure a public school in the area, some involving GI-ESCR and others led independently.

Across Africa, this work is complemented by a multi-country study examining the human rights implications of austerity in education and health, including how regressive fiscal policies, rising debt burdens and persistent underinvestment undermine the financing and delivery of public services.

In Latin America, from 29 November to 2 December 2021, over a thousand representatives from over one hundred countries, from grassroots movements, advocacy, human rights, and development organisations, feminist movements, trade unions, and other civil society organisations, met in Santiago, Chile, and virtually, to discuss the critical role of public services for our future. Following the meeting, the Santiago Declaration on Public Services was adopted to demand universal access to quality, gender-transformative and equitable public services as the foundation of a fair and just society.

We are currently advancing work on care systems, linking public services and fiscal justice through integrated research, advocacy and communications, including a regional campaign framing care as a collective responsibility requiring sustained public investment.

What's next?

In Ivory Coast, we will evaluate and strengthen the complaints management committee and position it as a replicable model for other health facilities. In Kenya, we will support the Mathare community to co-design a model public school for Mabatini and Ngei wards, grounded in human rights standards. Building on our multi-country austerity study, we will drive national advocacy on financing for education and health: advancing reforms in Ghana; launching a fiscal policy and public services financing agenda in Kenya through the CESCR process and targeted coalition work; and, in Nigeria, using the new tax acts in force since 1 January 2026 to catalyse a national accountability campaign for adequately funded, quality public services. In Latin America, we will amplify locally led care pilots across 8 countries and turn lessons into influence—advancing care policies that strengthen care organisations, protect care workers’ rights, support unpaid caregivers, include disability and family networks, and redistribute care more equitably.