(PHOTOS) Mulika Wabakaji launches campaign to seek justice for GBV victims

It is quite common in Kenya to see perpetrators of sexual gender-based violence going scot-free.

Most especially if the perpetrator is known to the victim as they often end up threatening to harm them if they proceed with reporting them.

Victims end up dropping cases against them and settling out of court, but the trauma of seeing perpetrators walk free haunts them.

Mulika Wabakaji Consortium launched a campaign on Wednesday that will focus solely on the perpetrators of sexual gender-based violence.

The consortium consists of 25 member organisations working to uphold the human rights of women and girls.

The Mulika Wabakaji Campaign launch brought together different Human Rights Defenders organizations both governmental and non-governmental.

Speaking during the event, Usikimye Executive Director Njeri Migwi noted that the campaign will be keen on perpetrators who once found guilty will be prosecuted and justice will prevail for the victim.

“Most of the time we focus more on the victim and forget about the perpetrators. In this campaign we will focus more on the perpetrators and ensure that justice prevails, "she said.

She said that the campaign's objective is to raise awareness of sexual and gender-based violence, increase accountability for perpetrators of rape and defilement, and shape the public narrative on SGBV.

Usikimye did a research survey, interviewing over 3,005 respondents, and found that the best target for the campaign would be the judiciary while the secondary targets are the police and public prosecutors, local administrators, religious leaders, survivors, and families among others.

The team targets to raise awareness in Nairobi and other counties with high prevalence.

Migwi said the evidence that has been gathered during the research will be used to sensitize the public on the magnitude and impact of rape and defilement.

It will increase public awareness, visibility of the issue and reshape public narrative hence increasing demand for accountability on cases of rape and defilement.

The key stakeholders for the campaign are Civil Society Organizations on SGBV, Donor community and development partners, community members , Physicians for human rights, pro-bono lawyers and advocates.

The campaign will run for three years in three phases.

During this period the group will monitor, evaluate and report on its progress towards the overall goal to further develop a plan for the next steps which will incorporate learning the results achieved.

Some of the tactics the team will use are capacity building through strengthening the capacity of police officers and prosecutions on prevention of evidence, management and handling of SGBV cases.

Shaping the public narrative through creating awareness and engaging the media.

Accountability will be conducted through continuous research, documenting the SHBV cases to acknowledge the magnitude of the problem, initiate strategic litigation, and monitor, document, and report on SGBV.

Visibility through media strategies, generation on facts on SGBV, IEC materials, lobby and advocacy, and networking and collaboration. Resource mobilization through increasing Campaign Ownership, developing campaign budget, and fundraising for the campaign.

While shaping the public narrative they will create awareness through workshops, public baraza, roadshows among others.

The campaign comes at a time when the country is experiencing election campaigns for the upcoming polls.

Often, this may increase incidents of sexual violence especial in violence-prone areas.

Mulika Wabakaji campaign hopes to reduce the SGBV cases, increase survivor reporting, improve responses and referrals mechanisms, prevention of more water-tight evidence, increase trust in the judicial system, reduce AGBV cases, reduce stigmatization during this period.