[JURIST] A Kenyan court on Thursday ordered doctors to end a strike or risk being sent to jail. The union protest has lasted for more than six weeks and has sent the hospital system into a crisis [NPR report]. Justice Helen Wasilwa had declared the strike illegal, but thousands of doctors, part of the Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists’ Union, continued to defy the government. The protests stem from a demand to fulfill a 2013 agreement of a pay raise, review of working conditions and promotions criteria, and hiring of more staff. There have been ongoing negotiations between the union and government during the strike, with the Kenyan government stating only a 40 percent pay raise would be possible.

Kenya has faced criticism for its treatment of protesters, though this strike has been peaceful. In November a group of UN human rights experts condemned reported violence [JURIST report] against anti-corruption protesters and journalists in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. President Uhuru Kenyatta has particularly come under fire for violence against protesters. Last year the ICC withdrew charges [JURIST report] against Kenyatta, who was accused of crimes against humanity for post-election violence, but indicated it would renew the charges if presented with enough evidence. In response to the charges against Kenyatta, the African Union unanimously resolved [JURIST report] in 2013 that African heads of state should be immune from prosecution by the ICC. Also in 2013 Kenya’s National Assembly approved a motion [JURIST report] to leave the ICC.