Femicide in Kenya: A national crisis demanding urgent action

Earlier this year, Kenyan women and men took to the streets to demand action on femicide. It never occurred to anyone that they would have to take to the streets again.

Unbelievable as it may seem, protests against femicide are being planned as the year draws to a close, following a spike in femicide cases last month.

A few weeks ago, the National Police Service revealed a staggering statistic about the rate of femicide in Kenya. It was revealed that 97 women had been killed in the last three months. This means that on average one woman is killed every day for no reasonable or justifiable cause.

Considering that this is only the number that is reported, there could be many more that go unreported. These facts send a chilling message to women in Kenya and raise concerns about their safety. One wonders where there is a safe space for them since it seems that homes are no longer safe.

As the country ponders over the information shared by the NPS, almost every day a woman falls victim to femicide. These incidents are a clear indication that femicide is no longer a far-fetched issue, but a national crisis.

In response to the shocking news, NGOs and activists are up in arms, demanding deliberate government action to address the issue, including legislative reforms and systemic steps that will address femicide and gender-based violence. There is also strategic mobilisation among NGOs to carry out targeted interventions to alleviate the problem.

As an advocate and human rights activist, I feel exhausted. Similar interventions have been made with little to no results, demonstrating the multifaceted and complex nature of femicide. While I acknowledge the fact that achieving change is progressive, when the situation gets worse rather than better, burnout is imminent.

The events of the past few months have raised a myriad of questions. One begins to wonder whether the problem is social, perhaps even mental, or a failure of systems, or both. As a woman, I begin to wonder if patriarchy is so ingrained in us that a woman’s life has no value and therefore her exercise of autonomy is a justification to end it. Is the concept of consent and self-control so far-fetched and alien that perpetrators are unable to understand and exercise restraint?

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Research studies on femicide in South Africa, which has one of the highest rates of femicide in the world, have shown that femicide can be prevented by improving support systems for women to report and escape violent situations. This is because femicide is often preceded by other forms of violence, including physical assault and rape. Where systems and structures are in place to enable a woman to leave a violent situation or report the violation without fear of ridicule or reviolation by officials, as is often the case, many would have escaped death.

It is therefore important that the government improves existing reporting structures to ensure that they are responsive and effective. Timely investigations and arrests of perpetrators will act as a deterrent to others. However, as it stands, several perpetrators of femicide have been brought to justice. This may create a laissez-faire attitude among perpetrators, who then think they can get away with their crimes.

NGOs and other stakeholders need to hold the government accountable to give life to their interventions. Changing perceptions and breaking stereotypes will not matter if the system does not work to enable social change; after all, NGOs work to complement government efforts, not to replace them. The government should take deliberate steps to address femicide and create a safe environment for women and girls. NGOs and activists will work to hold the state accountable.

The author is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya, a women’s human rights advocate and Senior Legal Program Manager at Women’s Link Worldwide.