- Of the 58 murders, 21 were adults while 27 were children.
- The figures reported this year are a significant rise as cases of gender-based violence increased during the pandemic.
Some 58 women and children were killed through acts of violence between January and October 31, Femicide Count Kenya says.
Of the murders, 21 were adults while 27 were children.
Femicide Count Kenya tallies the number of femicide cases reported by the Kenyan media.
The figures reported this year are a significant rise as cases of gender-based violence increased during the pandemic.
On October 13, Olympic medalist Agnes Tirop was found murdered in her home in Iten, Elegeyo Marakwet, causing a public outrage.
Tirop was found with stab wounds in her abdomen and neck.
The 25-year-old long-distance runner’s family alleged that she was in an abusive marriage with her husband Emmanuel Rotich.
Gender CS Margaret Kobia reported in 2020 that cases of gender-based violence such as physical assault and defilement had increased by 92 per cent during quarantine.
"Women in quarantine face increased risks of intimate partner violence. Girls staying home from school are vulnerable to forms of abuse such as defilement and female genital mutilation," she had said in a past event.
"The economic dependence and marginalisation of women make them more vulnerable, especially amid a pandemic," she added.
In October 14 following the murder of Tirop, Fida Kenya urged President Uhuru Kenyatta to declare femicide and gender-based violence a national disaster.
In a press statement, activists asked the DCI to make public measures they were undertaking to investigate the root causes of the increasing incidents of violence and femicide.
Fida-Kenya chairperson Nancy Ikinu said that they would not tire to stand up and speak out against femicide and any forms of violence.
“We remind our communities that in our silence we are actually complicit in creating a world full of inequality, hate and the violation of basic human rights of our sisters, friends, aunties, daughters, cousins and mothers,” she said.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)