Global Terrorism: a Victim’s Right to Compensation in Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to make a case for the victims of terrorism to be compensated by the State. Justice is the constant and perpetual disposition to render every man his due as was held in Re James Henry Borden, Jr v State (20 07). Consequently, access to a fair and just legal system is a fundamental human right which no person should be denied. In view of the foregoing, it is worth noting that global terrorism is a phenomenon that usually affects innocent citizens whereas terrorism may target to damage both the State and her security apparatus. Therefore, this study was conducted in Kenya and was chosen purposively due to the fact that it has huge numbers of terrorism victims seeking compensation. Hence, the specific objective of this study was to examine Kenya‟s legal framework providing for compensation for victims of terrorism, assess if victims of terrorism are duly recognized by the State for compensation purposes and to make recommendations for the enactment of a law providing for compensation. The Natural law theory was used in this study fairly widely so as to provide a means of determining and supporting the progress in advancing the compensation argument for victims of terrorism. This study employed descriptive research design and specifically used the library based design which was quite appropriate for this study since it sought to analyze factors associated with certain occurrences, outcomes or types of behaviour. In conclusion, this study discerned that the Compensation Fund established by the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2012 is yet to be operationalised and therefore recommends that there be established a Compensation Scheme and an operationalised Compensation Fund for victims of terrorism; thereby creating the need to enact a law providing for the eligibility criteria for victims of terrorism to guarantee them compensation.