Abstract:
The integration of international jurisprudence into the interpretation of the right to
health of persons with disabilities by domestic courts is an important way of
enhancing protection of the right at the national level. However, it is not always that
decisions of international human rights bodies will find their way into domestic
courts. This article maps the extent of engagement of Kenyan courts with
international and regional jurisprudence on the right to health of persons with
disabilities. It analyses the approach taken by Kenyan courts to determine whether
it aligns with the principles espoused in the cases decided at the international and
regional level. The article singles out two communications or cases that were decided
by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and one case that was
decided by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and assesses the
extent to which Kenyan courts have given effect to its obligations under the
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The paper concludes that
global and regional jurisprudence on the right to health for persons with disabilities
is rarely used by Kenyan courts to interpret persons with disabilities’ rights. The
paper recommends that Kenyan courts should entertain and apply a broad range of
international and regional jurisprudence when interpreting the normative content of
the right to health of persons with disabilities and corresponding state obligations.
