Spare no effort to end sexual and gender-based violence

 

Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital staff participate in the 16 Day of Activism against Gender Based Violence in Eldoret. [File, Standard]

As the global community commemorates the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, it is an opportunity for us to take stock of the progress we have made in our special interest group inclusion agenda. Kenya has made great leaps in building a society that unleashes the potential of all her citizens without any regard to their ethnicity, gender or any other considerations for exclusion. The 16 Days of Activism, that began on November 25, has been dubbed as the international day for the elimination of violence against women.

Kenya, has always demonstrated willingness to give women and girls an equal opportunity to their male counterparts. This is seen in its readiness to be bound by instruments which are geared towards rallying the international community towards a gender-inclusive world. We ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women barely five years after its adoption by the United Nations. We also quickly ratified the other most consequential international instruments on the rights of girls and women famously known as Maputo Protocol.

There was a time when we had only Grace Onyango as the only woman in Parliament. Today, we have the 47 women county MPs and many others who have been elected competitively. This is the clearest indicator that progress is indeed possible; that consistent advocacy and engagement can change old harmful practices and make it possible to forge more inclusive societies.

As we mark 30 years since the Beijing Conference, one of the profoundly symbolic conferences on the rights of women and girls, we must remember the timeless wisdom of Nelson Mandela - that after climbing a big mountain, you discover that there are still so many mountains to climb. This rude awakening has been our portion in the last couple of months with increased cases of femicide. According to UN Women’s 2024 report, nearly one in three women experience violence in their lifetime. For thousands of women, they say, the cycle of gender-based violence ended with one final and brutal Act-their murder by partners and family.

That the President has taken the lead role in fighting this menace is a positive indicator. Just last week, his office pledged Sh100 million fund to drive “The Safe Home, Safe Space campaign”. Initiatives such as this one should help us illuminate the dark crevices in our society that serve to encourage violence against women.

As we work together to achieve the goal of inclusion, we must deliberately make sure that our political processes are gender-friendly and no woman has to choose between her family, her reputation, her safety and politics. In that regard, political parties should develop systems that weed out any sex pests in their rank-and-file and also ensure that women participation is not undermined by systemic exploitation within the parties.

The International Federation for Human Rights and Kenya Human Rights Commission jointly warned in 2022 that sexual violence represented the second most serious form of election-related violence after physical violence. This underscores the fact that sexual violence remains a political tool and we must put an end to such thinking.

We must build a broad coalition of gender inclusion actors and advocates so as to realise the African Union aspiration 6; that the African development would be people driven, relying on the potential of its women, youth and caring for children.

As a young person who has benefited immensely from inter-generational mentorship both individually and corporately, I suggest that to meaningfully flatten the curve on sexual and gender-based violence, we invest in meaningful cross-generational mentorship structures. Male members of the society shoulc become active champions and role models in the fight against femicide and other related forms of violence. At the same time, older female members should continue to mentor women and girls into becoming responsible members of society with deep appreciation that to the one whom much is given, much is expected.

Mr Mwaga the convener Inter-Parties Youth Forum. [email protected]