Lobby group wants ICC to intervene over abductions

The Institute for Human Rights has urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Commissioner for Human Rights Council to intervene in cases of abductions in the country.

The group wants ICC and the council to take appropriate action against the Kenyan government for violating citizens' rights.

In the letter, the Institute of Human Rights President David Koros, said a total of 82 people have either been abducted or disappeared since 2024.

“There are more abductions this year, and that most of those being targeted were critics of the government on social media,” he said.

Koros claimed that President William Ruto’s administration was violating the Constitution and international laws on freedom of assembly and expression.

“Kenyans must be allowed to exercise the freedom enshrined in the Constitution. They should be allowed to express their thoughts about governance and what they think about their leaders.”

“We are calling upon the International Criminal Court (In the past few months a lot of citizens have been abducted, injured and others being killed in a mysterious circumstances. The government is to be blamed since most of the missing persons were critics of the government.”

“We are calling upon his excellency Mr Michael O'Flaherty, the Commissioner for Human Rights Council in Geneva, United Nations commissioner for human rights to visit the country and establish an inquiry into the continued violation of human rights,” read the letter in part.

Koros claimed that the Kenya Kwanza government has been unwilling to prosecute the perpetrators of human rights violations.

“This is a state-sponsored gang to silence the human activists and the civil society groups. We also demand the ICC to commence investigations and prosecute those funding the atrocities of human rights abuses they should be held accountable, your mandate is to bring justice in the world,” he said.

He regretted that President Ruto’s regime had not learned from the 2007/2008 post-election violence.

“The ICC is on record that we lost a lot of witnesses through abduction, disappearances, missing witnesses to date, and others being killed. The president of Kenya must be held accountable,” read the letter.

This comes as two lobby groups, Kituo Cha Sheria and Mathare Social Justice Center, seek to have the High Court declare that the abductions constitute crimes against humanity.

They are praying for a declaratory order that the Attorney General refer to the ICC prosecutor that the abductions and enforced disappearances occurring in Kenya are crimes against humanity and should be investigated.

The lobby groups further claim that the police are unable to prevent or investigate the crimes.