Women fear for safety in the coming elections

The pandemic has not been very kind to women and girls globally.

Due to the aggravated impacts of Covid-19, violence against women and girls rose.

According to the National Research and Crime Centre in 2020, gender-based violence cases rose by 92 per cent during the Covid-19 lockdown.

However, it cannot be said that the pandemic was the cause of the violence.

The pandemic only served as a magnifying glass to show the gravity of the situation that women, girls and vulnerable groups grapple with on a regular basis.

The United Nations described this as the shadow pandemic of Covid-19.

At the height of the pandemic, the United Nations held a special forum to chart ways toward achieving gender equality.

The Generation Equality Forum was held in Mexico and then later in Paris in June 2021.

More than 2,000 commitments toward achieving gender equality were made at those two events.

AMBITIOUS PLEDGES

Kenya was among the countries committing, with President Uhuru Kenyatta making 12 ambitious pledges to fulfil Sustainable Development Goal number 5 of reaching Gender Equality.

Uhuru acknowledged that gender-based violence is a major challenge to achieving gender equality in Kenya, thus he put forward the government's commitment to protecting women and girls.

Notably, he boldly pledged to end Female Genital Mutilation in Kenya by 2022 and gender-based violence (GBV) by 2026.

"Kenya will invest $23 million (Sh2.3 billion) for gender-based violence prevention and response by 2022 and up to $50 million (Sh5 billion) by 2026 through co-financing"

"Further, we will invest $1 million (Sh100 million) annually for gender-based violence and innovation annually by 2026," he pledged.

The government would also establish a fund for survivors of GBV, establish safe houses in all 47 counties by 2026 and scale up the establishment of Policare across the country.

He added that Kenya would ratify and implement the International Labour Organisation's Convention 190 to eliminate Gender-Based Violence and sexual harassment in the workplace by 2026, which Kenya signed in 2019.

"We will also integrate gender-based violence services into the essential package of the Universal Health Coverage by 2022," he added.

Kenya would also practise GBV prevention and response in crisis situations, such as Covid-19 response, humanitarian contexts or election-related violence.

The integrated police response to gender-based violence through Policare was officially launched in November 2021 by First Lady Margaret Kenyatta.

At the moment, survivors of GBV have to contend with Gender Desks at police stations that are not adequately equipped to give dignified access to justice.

Policare centres are meant to be a one-stop shop for GBV victims, where they can access forensic experts, medics, counsellors and the judiciary in one place, thus easing their journey to justice.

However, the process of establishing these revolutionary centres has been painfully slow.

There is only one that is currently up and running, as confirmed by Gender CAS Rachael Shebesh at a recent launch of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance's Gender Policy.

"The only Policare centre set up in the country is currently in Nanyuki, but we hope more will be coming up. The private sector can take this opportunity to help establish these centres at police stations as a form of Corporate Social Responsibility," she said.

WAR ON FGM

On February 6, Kenya joined the world in celebrating the International Day for Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

Although much is still being done on the ground to fight this harmful practice against women and girls, many challenges still hinder the fight.

Deeply entrenched traditions among FGM-practising communities are a major impediment to fulfilling the President's pledge.

Communities are constantly devising new ways of secretly conducting the cut on young girls.

Tabitha Ouya, Head of the Prosecutors' Training Institute at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, said these new tactics are causing a strain in the fight to end FGM.

“Medical FGM, the cutting of baby girls at birth and crossing borders to get the cut are some of the ways communities are using to escape the law,” she said.

She was speaking at a high-level national consultative meeting to reflect on the gains made in the fight against FGM that was attended by Fida-Kenya, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Anti-FGM board in November.

In December, there was public outcry over cases of FGM reported among the Kuria community, where girls were being circumcised over the festive season.

Former UNFPA country director Ademola Olajide faulted the government for failing to prevent this practice that was openly being celebrated in the region and called for stern action to be taken.

"We are failing in our sacred duty to protect these girls. Firm action must be taken against duty bearers who disregard a presidential directive to end FGM,” he said.

UNFPA has worked together with the Anti-FGM Board for years to make sure the presidential mandate for Zero FGM has been achieved.

The board itself was formed in 2013 by Uhuru as required by the Prohibition of the FGM Act (2010).

The Board's CEO, Bernadette Loloju, has been working tirelessly to eradicate FGM, especially among Kenya's pastoralist communities.

They have reformed cutters by providing alternative means of livelihood, put up shelters for girls running from the harmful practice, and even started schools for young girls who are at risk of getting cut back home.

Although 2022 is too ambitious a year for the government to have set, with all the efforts being put forward, there is hope that one day, the practice will end completely.

With the help of input from multiple stakeholders, Uhuru said Kenya would be able to achieve the set goals.

NUMEROUS LAWS

There are sufficient laws and policies in place to guarantee the protection of women and girls. However, implementation of the laws is wanting.

In 2015, the Protection Against Domestic Violence Act (PADV) was enacted and it was meant to protect victims of domestic violence.

The Act also provided for a third party to report abuse on behalf of a victim as it was restricted previously only to the victim.

There also exists the Penal Code and the Sexual Offenses ct of 2006.

Numerous rights groups have been calling for the amendment of the Sexual Offences Act of 2006 to no avail.

Last year, the Centre for Rights Education and Awareness (CREAW-Kenya) lobbied for Section 8(5) of the act to be amended.

They said it made women and children victims of sexual violence appear to be liars as it discriminated against them.

“The Sexual Offences Act in Section 8(5) provides a defence that serves to entrench stereotypes of women and children as liars in cases of sexual violence,” the lobby group said.

Despite these laws being in place, cases of gender-based violence have continued to be reported.

According to the Kenya Health Information System, more than 3,450 cases were recorded in 2020, up from 2,023 in 2019.

2019 marked a decrease from 2,357 sexual violence cases in 2018, while cases in 2017, an election year, were 2021, up from 1,997 in 2016.

Most said their families were looking to relocate to areas they felt were neutral and little conflict would occur

OUT OF TIME

As the August General Elections draw near, a number of rights groups have been calling on the government to put up measures that will ensure the elections are free from violence.

Akili Dada, a girls' rights organisation, did a focus group study with girls from Boxgirls Kenya, asking them about their experiences with election violence.

During a Twitter Space discussion on Peace during the Elections, Diana Njuguna from Akili Dada shared the study’s findings.

“The girls unanimously felt unsafe and at risk of violence during the coming elections,” she said.

“Most said their families were looking to relocate to areas they felt were neutral and little conflict would occur.”

Akili Dada was concerned that government-run safe houses in Nairobi would not be up and running in time for the polls.

Nairobi county has been operating with no single government-run safe house for victims for years.

NGOs have been taking in victims of violence in large numbers, especially during the onset of the Covid-19 lockdown.

Wanja Maina, a gender and development expert, said a government-run safe house should be in existence by now.

“It is unfortunate that for years, a budget for such developments has not been set aside. The government has left the setting up of safe houses in the hands of NGOs and Community-Based Organisations,” she said.

An outcry from women's rights groups over a lack of a single safe house for victims in Nairobi county was finally heard last year, when the county passed a bill that would see safe houses built across the county.

Nairobi Governor Anne Kananu signed the Sexual Gender-Based Violence bill into law last year.

The law would require that the county government establish safe houses in each of the 17 subcounties in Nairobi.

This is to guarantee the safety of victims while their cases are being prosecuted, ensuring budgetary allocation for the facilities as well as a witness protection programme.

Last month, City Hall signed an MoU with NMS and the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF) to construct an Sh88 million safe house.

The county government contributed Sh20 million and donated land for the construction of the house, while NMS contributed Sh18 million and NGAAF Sh50 million towards the construction.

So far, the construction is still not underway.

The government has left the setting up of safe houses in the hands of NGOs and Community-Based Organisations

DATA ON GBV

Over the years, data has become an important resource, and the demand for it has been skyrocketing.

While non-governmental organisations and governments are working to bridge that data gap through research, up-to-date data on gender is still hard to come by.

In 2020, Gender and Public Service CS Margaret Kobia said the State would need more data on the need for shelters for victims of GBV before allocating resources. 

She was quoted in the Star as saying the government is more focused on preventive measures.

"The reason why the government has not been committing resources to shelters is that it has been working more on preventive measures because we do not want to wait until it happens so that we can go to the shelter," Kobia said.

Hence the government's pledge to create a system to track GBV through the Kenyan Demographic Health Survey and GBV management and information system.

This, coupled with data from NGOs, can help in dealing with GBV effectively.

As AidData and Together for Girls put it in their report on Sexual Related Gender-Based Violence, filling this data gap can impact the ability of governments and organisations to effectively prevent and address GBV.

CALL FOR ACTION

As the President's term comes to an end, questions arise about what will become of these promises he made.

Better4Kenya, a rights group, came out to demand that these commitments be fulfilled immediately to help end GBV.

“Our President outlined 12 actions designed to address the environment in which GBV thrives, and to create a structure of law, accountability, financing and resources to prevent and address GBV in Kenya,” they said.

They formed an online petition on the platform change.org, where thousands of Kenyans put down their signatures calling for the government to be accountable.

Just last week, Akili Dada made fresh calls to the government to fulfil the Generation Equality commitments.

“Women and girls are calling on the Kenyan government to join Mexico and other Generation Equality Forum leaders to boldly commit adequate financial resources to the care economy for an equal, inclusive and sustainable future,” they said.

Other entities supporting this call include the Centre for Rights Education and Awareness (CREAW Kenya), the African Women’s Development and Communications Network (Femnet), Kenya Land Alliance and Grassroots Women's Movement of Kenya (Groots).