The High Court in the UK has ordered that children in Kenya allegedly fathered and abandoned by British soldiers be given access to the identities of the men involved.
The court issued an unprecedented ruling demanding the release of the names and addresses of 11 soldiers of the affected children.
The ruling means that information about British soldiers who are believed to have fathered and abandoned their children while stationed in Kenya will be given to the children involved.
There are fears that there could be hundreds more children fathered by British soldiers who were posted in Kenya, according to Metro.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and HM Revenue & Customs in Britain will be required to disclose the last known contact details of the men.
The British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) soldiers based in Nanyuki, 200km north of Nairobi, have been put on the spot for occasionally impregnating women around the area and abandoning them.
Some of these pregnancies are consensual, while others are said to be forced. Children born out of these relations have now grown and have been seeking to be recognised by their British fathers, who are said to have abandoned them in Kenya.
Apart from being abandoned by their fathers, the British children are also faced with stigma for being white. Parents decry being forced to pay more fees because the children are white. They also face discrimination when looking for jobs.
The children from the relationship were abandoned, with the women forced to raise them on their own.
Many of the soldiers involved reportedly got married and had other children, denying any efforts from the mothers of their children to get in contact.
Meanwhile, some of the children in the lawsuit before the High Court in the UK are hoping to have the soldiers named as their legal parents, which could mean they could be entitled to British citizenship.
Attempts by Kenyan Members of Parliament to investigate allegations of abuse by the British Army have repeatedly failed, despite concerns that the claims could significantly impact the future presence of UK troops in the country.
