Abolitionist Collective of International Law hosts its first event in Nairobi

Dr Raghavi Viswanath organised the "Whose Transition? Law, Land and Energy Infrastructure in Kenya" workshop in Nairobi, the first event of the Abolitionist Collective of International Law.

The Collective was set up by Dr Viswanath with colleagues from India, Kenya, and South Africa. The workshop saw over 40 attendees, with community leaders who travelled from Siaya, Suswa, Lamu, Turkana and Menengai (all regions affected by renewable energy projects) to sit with lawyers, academics, journalists, artists and policymakers, and collectively think through what the green energy transition has meant for their lands, ecologies, livelihoods and epistemologies. The group also included 13-year-old climate advocate Alana Chelangat and climate storyteller Bilha Luseka.

Public good rather than a privatised asset

Conversations ranged from the downstream and intergenerational costs of infrastructure projects; to who really gets a seat at the table when community engagement happens; the carceral logics of the green transition; and the ways land, labour and indigenous knowledge are too often extracted rather than centred. Together, the group conceptualised the need for the energy transition to be reconfigured toward the public good rather than a privatised asset, and what a genuinely just transition, one that moves with communities rather than ahead of them, actually requires.

The workshop also included some street theatre and musical performances by the Traveling Theatre group of the Mathare Social Justice Centre, sparking critical questions about who is unseen and unheard in the making and execution of energy projects in Kenya.

The workshop was made possible through the Impact Engagement Fund offered by the School of Law, and some financial support from Ariya Finergy, a solar energy company with operations in East Africa.

The group is now developing insights to refine the implementation of Kenya's new Public Participation Law. Artist duo Mwami Murungi and Luca Tenreira will be capturing some of the workshop discussions in art at 32° East, an art studio in Kampala.

One of the attendees, Paul Lomeri (from Climate Story Labs) shared:

Policy, art, law and green energy stripped themselves of their usual formality and met on one platform for a conversation that was anything but ordinary.

“‘Whose Transition: Law, Land and Energy Infrastructure in Kenya’ brought together journalists, academics, community representatives, environmental groups and others championing their rightful space in Kenya’s energy transition.”

And the room had something special...different generations, different experiences, different lenses, sitting in the same space and asking the same fundamental question: Whose transition is it?”

Looking forward

The Collective are now developing a response to the Public Participation Bill in Kenya. They submitted a memorandum to the Standing Committee on Justice, Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Kenyan Parliament on the 28 September, and are now preparing a conceptual guidance document on how public participation must be solicited and honoured in energy projects in Kenya. This policy brief will be submitted to the Kenyan National Commission of Human Rights in November 2026. They have secured the ESRC Impact Accelerator Account Rapid Action fund from the Leeds Institute of Societal Futures to support the preparation of this report.

Dr Viswanath’s work with the Collective highlights the School of Law’s commitment to tackling urgent global issues through impactful research.