The IEBC is developing a framework for the prevention of gender based violence during elections.
The electoral agency is developing a manual in collaboration with the UNDP and other stakeholders that will be used to sensitise, train and empower poll officers on prevention and response to EGBV.
IEBC said in a statement on its website that the manual will be availed to officers in the police service, Health ministry, DCI and the Judiciary who are involved in the electoral processes.
“The overall goal is to access justice for survivors of EGBV and contribute to increased women’s participation in the electoral process,” read part of the statement on Thursday.
The venture is in response to rampant cases of sexual violence especially against women and young girls during the electioneering period.
Soon after President Uhuru Kenyatta was declared winner of the nullified August 8 presidential election, spontaneous violence erupted in parts of the country.
A number of women say they were sexually assaulted and raped, but some of the victims failed to report to authorities for fear of reprisal.
There was outcry from the public about how police officers handled women during the protests.
According to pictures and a spot check by The Star, some women were assaulted by police.
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Following the 2007/8 post election violence, the Kriegler report recommended that officers involved in overseeing elections in the country should be trained on handling cases of sexual violence.
This was after evidence showed that women were by far more affected by the post-poll violence that left more than 1,000 people dead.
According to the IEBC, the EGBV manual will empower officers to better understand electoral gender based violence and how to preserve evidence in such cases.
Officers will also be trained on how best to respond to EGBV and the chain of accessing justice for victims.
Global statistics show that only 15.8 to 35 per cent of all sexual assaults are reported to the police.
The data shows that a survivor’s relationship with the offender has a strong effect on the likelihood of reporting.
For incidence, 18 to 40 per cent of sexual assaults are reported
when an offender is a friend or acquaintance as compared to only 25 per cent when the offender is an intimate partner or former intimate partner.
Between 46 and 66 per cent of sexual assaults are reported when an offender is a stranger.
However, some survivors never report sexual assault to the police in the belief that it will be easier to move forward from their experience.
Others feel the criminal justice system re-victimises them in its process.
Other factors include fear of reprisal, the belief that the police would not do anything to help and the fear of lack of evidence and enough proof.
Some survivors choose to keep quite about the ordeal because they do not want family or anyone else to know about it.
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