- About 16 per cent of the female respondents who had ever experienced sexual violence from a non-intimate partner had reported the incident to someone.
- The study said poverty often leads survivors to take routes that do not lead to justice.
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A study by the United Nations Development Programme reveals several gaps in the system that hamper access to justice for survivors of sexual gender-based violence.
The recent study conducted by Centre for Rights Education and Awareness and the Wangu Kanja Foundation found that corruption stops survivors from reporting cases.
There is also the public’s lack of trust in the criminal justice system.
In Nairobi, Kitui and Meru, where the study was undertaken, lack of reporting or late reporting, was a major result of these shortfalls.
“The danger of late reporting was considered by the courts which, in some cases, was found to favour the accused person,” it said.
Indepth interviews with 24 survivors who have experienced SBGV revealed that survivors don’t report because of a lack of knowledge of their rights.
“The research and discussions with survivors have shown that many do not report the crimes, delay making reports, and or withdraw their reports,” the study said.
The National Crime Research Centre shows that two per cent of males and 15.2 per cent of females interviewed, who had ever experienced sexual violence from an intimate partner, had ever reported the incident to anyone.
“On the other hand, about 16 per cent of the female respondents who had ever experienced sexual violence from a non-intimate partner had reported the incident to someone,” they said.
Corruption and compromise of cases were other factors that made survivors not report cases.
Additional interviews with police officers, lawyers, judges, magistrates, health practitioners, prosecutors, community health volunteers and paralegals handling rape and defilement cases revealed that corruption made survivors doubt they would receive justice.
The report said perpetrators often have paid off police officers, for example, to have cases against them disappear or survivors being threatened or bribed to drop charges.
“We pursued a case of defilement. The mother had taken the child away after the report. When we followed up, we were informed she had been paid Sh300,000,” an interviewee from Nairobi said.
The study said poverty often leads survivors to take routes that do not lead to justice.
“When patients come here for treatment, they are disadvantaged financially, emotionally and physically and are easy to manipulate," a doctor at Mater Hospital said.
"Many of them do not pursue their cases once they are compromised.
“We had a case where the mother of the child who was defiled made the child recant her statement. Later we learnt that she was using the child to make money from the perpetrator,” an interviewee from Kitui said.
Many of the survivors interviewed also had little knowledge of where to go in terms of reporting the cases and seeking help.
The study said survivors did not know how referral systems and mechanisms in their communities worked and had to depend on word of mouth from police officers or health institutions.
“Often, they are informed of where to go next by the police or by paralegals and community health volunteers or Non-Governmental Organisations,” the study said.
While these private organisations often work to fill the information gap that exists among the public, the sole responsibility lies with the government and the system.
The lack of information may lead to survivors missing out on vital referral services, including psycho-social services to help deal with the trauma incurred from the violence.
The study called for frequent, robust monitoring of the criminal justice system in order to hold the duty bearers accountable for ensuring access to justice.
Further, it recommends that alternative dispute resolution mechanisms such as traditional justice systems be explored to fill the gaps that trap survivors in the criminal justice system.
"There is a need to have a policy and legal framework of the workings of such systems us provided in Article 159 of the Constitution," the study said.
They recommend that awareness creation on laws and policies on sexual violence, rights of survivors and the role of traditional justice systems first be done in order to make the system successful.
(edited by Amol Awuor)