Call For President Ruto To Declare Femicide A National Disaster

“They don’t just kill one woman, they ;kill’ us all!”, says one of the human rights activist during the march against the rise in Femicide, held on 27^th March 2024 in Nairobi and across different cities in Kenya themed ‘Stop Killing Us!’.

According to Amnesty International, between 2016 and 2023, more than 500 women’s lives were taken by intimate partners or persons known to them, majority of which were women below the age of 35 years old. Kenya Bureau of Statistics (KBS) estimates that 40% of Kenyan women aged between 15 – 49 years old experience domestic violence (GBV) at least once in their lifetime and that 1 out of 4 will have experienced GBV in the in the last 6 months.  One of the most infamous cases in Kenya’s history, was the 2019 murder of a medical student by who was hacked her boyfriend with an axe, in the glare of the public.  These sad statistics and reports precede the recent rise in femicides in the country with more than 10 cases having been reported within less than 3 weeks in January 2024; the most gruesome of them being the sad case of Rita Waeni. Whose dismembered and decapitated body was found staffed in trash bags.

World Health Organization defines femicide as, the intentional killing of a woman or a girl based on their gender. Femicide is becoming a concerning menace in Kenya with women now fearing for their lives. According to the observation made on the reaction of a majority of the netizens, victim blaming is rife. One of the most mentioned victim-blame is transactional sex.  The value of women cannot be pegged on her sexual decision. This undermines the right to autonomy, which is a fundamental right. This goes without saying, that a majority of the femicides have been by men in committed relationships (husbands /boyfriends) with the victims.

Articles 26 (3) of Kenya’s constitution clearly stipulates that no person should be deprived of life. The use of derogatory terms employed in an attempt to justify femicides begs the question, are women in Kenya guaranteed safety anymore? This kinds of conversations highlights the gravity of the problem. Despite the progress made, the attainment of independence, the ratification documents including The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and twenty years of Maputo protocol, we cannot say that Kenyan women are free if they are not and safe and free to choose their path.

In Kenya access to justice for gender-violence survivors remains to be a tedious, painful and traumatic process for survivors and their families despite the constitutional mandate to protect and do no harm. Legal barriers such as corruption, slow and unfriendly systems, inadequate forensic capacity, and stigma contribute to the reduced motivation for reporting cases. These legal gaps provide opportunity for perpetrators to escape justice fueling survivor’s harassment, repeat violence and increased violence to other vulnerable groups. Important to note is that is even after the march, key policy makers including the Cabinet Secretary of Interior and National Administration have remained silent on the matter.

Femicide is a threat to national security, women of Kenya call upon President Ruto to declare femicide, a national disaster and put up systems to protect, prevent and hold perpetrators accountable for their actions. The growing femicide epidemic calls for urgent action from all policy makers and implementers. Action must be taken, the audacity of two Kenyan men publicly affirming that they will unalive women if they turn them down after a date, paints a clear picture of how desperate the situation is.