93 International Case Law 28. The Republic of Kenya’s Treatment of the Nubian Community was Discriminatory. The Nubian Community in Kenya vs The Republic of Kenya Communication 317/2006 African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights 17th Extraordinary Session held at Banjul, The Gambia February 19 – 28, 2015 Withholding of Identification Documents and the actions by the Republic of Kenya that in effect made the Nubian Community Stateless were discriminatory. The complainants’ submissions The complaint was submitted by the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) and the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA) on behalf of the Nubian community of Kenya (the Complainants), against the Republic of Kenya (State Party to the African Charter and hereinafter referred to as Kenya). According to the Complainants, the present Nubian community in Kenya, over one hundred thousand (100,000), comprised descendants of ex-Sudanese forcefully enlisted compulsorily into the colonial British King’s African Rifles Regiment in the early 1900s. The complainants alleged that as a result of the compulsory enlistment, the Nubian soldiers were taken to various parts of British East Africa, including present- day Kenya, to assist the British in their military expeditions. The colonial authorities did not grant British citizenship to the Nubians as they did to the Indian Railway workers they had brought from India to Kenya for labour in the late 19th Century. As such, the Nubians remained simply as British subjects under colonial rule and were not granted British citizenship. As subjects, they were considered British protected persons. After the British expeditions, it was alleged that the Nubians demanded to be returned to Sudan but their demands were not met. They were left without any resettlement scheme in Kenya, neither were they granted British citizenship. Members of the Nubian community in Kenya had lived in the Kibera slums in Nairobi, and in Bondo, Kisumu, Kibos, Mumias, Meru, Isiolo, and Mazeras in Mombasa as well as the Eldama Ravine, Tange-Kibigori, Sondu, Kapsabet, Migori and Kisii areas since they moved into Kenya in the early 1900s and knew no other home. There were many Nubians in present day Kenya whose grandparents knew no other home but Kenya, because they were born there. At Kenyan independence, in 1963, the citizenship status of the Nubians was not directly addressed, and for a long period of time they were consistently treated by the government as “aliens.” The complainants alleged that even though they qualified for Kenyan citizenship CITIZENSHIP AND NATIONALITY RIGHTS CASE DIGEST