Gibson Kamau Kuria (born 3 March 1947 in Mahiga Location,

Othaya Othaya is a Kenyan town about 120 kilometres north of Nairobi, the capital. It has a population of 21,427, of which 4,108 are core urban (1999 census ); the majority of the residents are of the Kikuyu tribe. Othaya is part of the Nyeri County. It is ...

Division,

Nyeri District Nyeri County is a county located in the central region of Kenya. Its capital and largest town is Nyeri. It has a population of 759,164 and an area of 2361 km2. It is currently under the leadership of H.E. Governor Mutahi Kahiga. Other gove ...

) is a Kenyan lawyer and a recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award for 1988.

Early education

Kuria started his formal education at Mahiga Intermediate School from 1954 to 1961 before going on to high school at Kagumo High School from 1962 to 1967.

Higher education

Kuria graduated in March 1971 with a Bachelor of Laws degree (Upper Division) at the then

University of East Africa The University of East Africa was established on 29 June 1963"Universities: East Africa", ''A Historical Companion To Postcolonial Thought In English'' (Columbia University Press, 2005) Prem Poddar and David Johnson, eds., p. 489. and served Keny ...

, University College,

Dar-es-Salaam Dar es Salaam (; from ar, دَار السَّلَام, Dâr es-Selâm, lit=Abode of Peace) or commonly known as Dar, is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over s ...

, Tanzania. He then pursued a Bachelor of Civil Law at the Oxford University. He was awarded the Doctorate of Laws by

Lewis & Clark Law School The Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College (also known as Lewis & Clark Law School), is an American Bar Association-approved private law school in Portland, Oregon. The law school received ABA approval in 1970 and joined the As ...

, Oregon, US, because of his human rights work.

Career

In May 1971 Kuria was appointed a tutorial fellow in the Faculty of Law,

University of Nairobi The University of Nairobi (uonbi or UoN; ) is a collegiate research university based in Nairobi. It is the largest university in Kenya. Although its history as an educational institution dates back to 1956, it did not become an independent univer ...

, where he taught law and carried out research between then and September 1972 and 1975. In 1974 he was appointed lecturer, Faculty of Law, by the University of Nairobi, where he taught law and researched between 1974 and 26 February 1987, when he was arrested and detained without trial until 12 December 1987, publishing articles on the rule of law, legal education, legal profession, human rights, and family law. In 1975 he started legal activism with a few practicing lawyers in the Kenya bar, including

Paul Muite Paul Kibugi Muite (born 18 Apr 1945) is a Kenyan lawyer and politician Political career He is a prominent figure in Kenya's second liberation struggle during the 1990s to remove the single party dictatorship established by the Kenya African N ...

, former Attorney-General of Kenya

Amos Wako Amos Wako (born 31 July 1945) is a former Attorney General of Kenya and the first senator for Busia County from 2013 to 2017. Wako won the senatorial seat after defeating former minister of finance Chris Okemo. He won the senator seat on an Or ...

, and two other attorneys. Since 1975, Kuria has published many articles on constitutionalism, rule of law, human rights, legal education, family law, and succession in such scholarly journals as The East African Law Journal. During this time he also represented Wanyiri Kihoro, against the State over violations against Human Rights committed against Mr Kihoro whilst in detention in the famous

Nyayo House Nyayo House is a skyscraper in Nairobi, Kenya. It hosts several government departments such as immigration (the State Department for Immigration, Border Control, and Regulation of Persons) and also serves as the headquarters of Nairobi Province. ...

torture chambers. he was arrested and spent time detained without charge at Naivasha Maximum Security Prison for his involvement in the case whilst his partner in his law firm

Kiraitu Murungi Kiraitu Murungi (born 1 January 1952) is a Commissioner at the Kenya Law Reform Commission and the former governor of Meru County in Kenya. He is a former long-serving member of parliament for South Imenti constituency (1992-2013), former cab ...

was forced into exile. In July 1995 he was elected secretary general of the East Africa Law Society. In this capacity, Kuria devised programs for promoting regional integration with a view to establishing an East African federal state to be served by a Federal bar Association and published two articles on how to establish an East African federal state and enforce a Bill of Rights. He served in that position until April 1998. Between 1997 and 1998 Kuria served as the vice-chairman of the Law Society of Kenya, rising to chairman from March 1999 to 2001. This bar association has been in the forefront in the struggle to restore constitutionalism, On 22 February 2003 he was appointed by the president a member of a tribunal to enquire into allegations of the Chief Justice's inability to discharge the functions of his office; the CJ resigned about a week after the setting up of the commission. On 28 March 2003, Kuria was appointed by the president to serve as assisting counsel in the commission to enquire into the

Goldenberg scandal The Goldenberg scandal was a political scandal where the Kenyan government was found to have subsidised exports of gold far beyond standard arrangements during the 1990s, by paying the company Goldenberg International 35% more (in Kenyan shilling ...

Awards and achievements

*1988 - Awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award from the

Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights (formerly the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, or RFK Center) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit human rights advocacy organization. It was named after United States Senator Robert F. Kenned ...

; The Kenya government which had confiscated Dr. Kuria’s passport refused to allow him to travel to the US to receive the award;Kenya Bars Rights Lawyer From Visiting U.S. By JANE PERLEZ, Special to the New York Times Published: 24 September 1988 http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB071EF83A540C778EDDA00894D0484D81 *1988 - The

Lawyers Committee for Human Rights Human Rights First (formerly known as the Lawyers Committee for International Human Rights) is a Nonpartisan (American organizations), nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3), international human rights organization based in New York City ...

award - Hon.

, Kenyan lawyer and chairman of the Parliament Select Committee on Constitutional Reform, travelled to the US and received the award on Dr. Kuria’s behalf and his passport was confiscated upon his return to Kenya, *August 1990 – Kuria was awarded the Rule of Law Award by the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of aca ...

for his work in human rights in Kenya, *December 1990 - received

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

's award as a human rights monitor, *1993 – Kuria was awarded the Jurists of the Year Award by the International Commission of Jurists (Kenya Chapter).

References

External links

Biography
at RFK Memorial website {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuria, Gibson Kamau 1947 births Living people Kenyan prisoners and detainees 20th-century Kenyan lawyers People from Nyeri County Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award laureates 21st-century Kenyan lawyers