An Informal Chat with Jacinta Nyachae

Jacinta Nyachae, a young women from Nairobi, Kenya, was one of the awardees selected from a wide selection of candidates. She is an Advocate of the High Court in Kenya and has extensive experience in human rights issues with a special interest in HIV and AIDS. Jacinta is one of the founders of AIDS Law Project (ALP) which uses litigation and other legal strategies to advance the rights of people living with HIV. She is responsible for formulating and implementing the programmes, goals and objectives, and, with other young female pro-bono lawyers, she provides legal aid on issues relating to HIV and human rights. Since it’s inception in 2007, AIDS Law Project has reached over 1000 people through legal awareness on a community level and over 300,000 people through public litigation on matters relating to health.

Why Human Rights?

When asked why her focus was on Human Rights, Jacinta explained that it all started  when she was studying law at University. During her studies she realised on the one hand the importance of human rights, and on the other that this was not a fully exploited area of law. Her first job, at the Human Rights Commission, allowed her to gain experience and knowledge in this field. Jacinta understood early on that “for Human Rights to be enforced, you have to use the courts”.  She also noted that there was a missing link between Human Rights and HIV, especially in relation to women, and wanted to fill this gap. Today, in addition to her work, she is enthusiastic about mentoring young students during short term internships so that they may in turn choose to focus on the area of Human Rights when they will start practicing law. Jacinta also reminded us that for a “law to work, you have to give it life”.

According to Jacinta, a very encouraging step took place in 2010 in Kenya when a new Constitution was adopted – one which took into consideration concerns such as access to health care for women and children as well as reproductive health for women. This was important in relation to her work, and in the long term would make it easier to assist and defend women and their rights in Kenya. Jacinta shared that she, as many others in her country and elsewhere, inevitably knew people who were affected by HIV and that this had contributed to her professional choices.

The importance of this Award?

Jacinta was very honoured to have received this award, even more so because of its link with Mary Robinson, who is renowned and respected for her exceptional leadership and her contribution worldwide. Jacinta has always admired Mary Robinson for her outstanding work, especially in the area of Human Rights. She is convinced that being the recipient of such a symbolic award will give an added dimension to her work and allow her organisation and its impact to develop significantly as the Mary Robinson Award for Young Women’s Leadership in Human Rights will most certainly give her and her organisation greater credibility and visibility.

Is a platform such as the International Women’s Summit important ?

This was the first International Women’s Summit that Jacinta had attended, but probably would not be the last. Her enthusiasm was apparent when speaking of her experience at the Summit, which she saw as an important place to learn, share, network and lead to new opportunities. Jacinta had had the opportunity of sharing experiences with a number of other participants during those two days and had found this to be most enriching, constructive and uplifting.

And what about the YWCA?

Before leaving Jacinta shared with us that she was not yet a member of the YWCA, but as a result of her exposure to the movement and to her positive experience in Zurich, she was determined that one of her first actions upon returning home would be to join the YWCA of Kenya.