United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) is seeking for an individual or consultancy firm to undertake a detailed law mapping exercise that assesses the extent to which the existing constitution and the applicable civil and criminal laws are consistent with CEDAW and the Additional Protocol on Women's Human Rights to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights.
1.0 BACKGROUND
Protection of women's equal rights through the national normative frameworks, namely constitution and domestic laws is one of the important conditions for achieving gender equality. International and regional normative frameworks to which states are party to are among the sources of the national constitutions and laws. One of the key international frameworks for the promotion of women's human rights is - the Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The Additional Protocol on Women's Human Rights to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights is the most important regional normative framework.
One of the key commitments of Kenya's coalition government (formed in February 2008) is comprehensive review of the constitution. This political moment presents an opportunity for systematic review of the state of affairs in relation to constitutional and legal protection of the rights of women in Kenya. It calls for strategic and proactive action to build a reform agenda addressing the existing gaps in the legal and institutional framework for protection of women's human rights in Kenya.
2.0 OBJECTIVE
The Objectives of this study are;
- to identify existing inconsistencies between Kenya's constitutional, legal and institutional framework on the one hand, and CEDAW and the Additional Protocol on the other;
- to provide recommendations for a reform agenda to establish compatibility between the domestic laws and the international /regional treaties and;
- to propose entry points for aligning national legislation/ Constitution with CEDAW and the Additional Protocol and so form an advocacy framework for all stakeholders, including UNIFEM, to better lobby and hold the government of Kenya accountable to the promotion of women's human rights through the Constitution and laws.
Sealed proposal documents comprising the technical proposal and the financial proposal in separate sealed envelope clearly marked "RFP/XXX/2008: "Consultancy-UNIFEM" should be delivered/sent to:
The Operations Manager
UNIFEM Regional Office for East and Horn of Africa
Block Q, UN Complex Gigiri,
PO Box 30218, 00100
Nairobi, Kenya
The closing date for submission is Wednesday November 5, 2008 at 12.00 noon Kenya time.
NOTE: Those consultants or firms who had applied earlier must re-apply following the instructions given above.
