Monday, September 19, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
Friday, January 14, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
INTERGENERATIONAL DIALOGUE: International women’s Day: 9th March 2010
Celebrating the achievements of older women in our communities and providing a forum for them to discuss the challenges they face.
On 9th March 2010, Mama na Dada Africa invited 15 women and 10 men over the age of 65 from Rarieda to celebrate International women’s day at the Mama na Dada center in Kunya village, Rarieda District. Mama na Dada staff organized this one day event to not only celebrate the achievements of older women in the community but also create a forum for them to discuss the challenges they are facing as guardians, and more specifically as women, in their old age. Older women are rarely targeted and usually neglected in development projects, yet voting patterns have shown that they vote in larger numbers than younger women. In addition, with the spread and tragic effects of HIV/AIDs in Africa, there has been an increase of grandmothers adopting their orphaned grand- or great grand children. Older women are therefore just as important in civic education programmes as the first point of education for the young girls and boys under their care.
The event which started at 10am began with a plenary discussion where the women discussed their challenges in addressing sexual health issues with their grandchildren, let alone civic matters. “These children are having children in their grandmother’s homes!” lamented one elderly man. They pointed out that it was imperative we address the reproductive health of youth urgently and seriously, as they felt that there is very little chance of girls participating in leadership roles while having unplanned families. This fact is reiterated in an article in the The Standard Newspaper of 8th March 2010, titled “Study: Kenya has neglected sexual health of youth”, by Elizabeth Mwai.
Rather than addressing gender issues with women in isolation, Mama na Dada invited older men to the event so that they could appreciate the work done by older women and therefore support them. It was also decided that it was just as important for men, who are the traditional elders in the community, to receive information and education on gender issues, and perhaps they too will work at having these addressed.The triple burden of an African woman is such that she is a home maker, the breadwinner and caregiver in any given community. This burden becomes even heavier to bear for the older women who, with age, find it more difficult to perform these duties. During one on one interviews with the women, one woman said “I wish someone could take me to some far off place for just one day so that I can get a break.” She then quickly added “But who would take care of my grandchildren?”
After the two-hour discussion, the older women and men were appreciated by being given a hearty meal over lunch as well as the snacks they had through the course of the day. All the while, they were listening to and dancing to traditional and modern Luo music. The climax of the day was the presentation of gift bags for each of the women containing maize, sugar, water glasses, a scarf and cooking oil. In addition, women who had shown exceptional leadership and service in the community were given a Leso each. In sheer gratitude, one woman suggested, “we should do this continuously for five months!” The youth were also involved in the celebrations with some of the girls from the Mama na Dada Saturday girls’ club presenting skits and poems for the old men and women. Apart from being entertaining, the presentations passed a message from the youth to the older men and women that they too were concerned about the negative trends with regards to sexual health and reproduction, and that the two generations can work hand in hand in combating the challenges. The girls were also recognized as leaders among the youth, with a few of the girls being awarded with gifts for their roles in and out of school.
Mama na Dada has had an intergenerational dialogue program in the past named “Merging the past and the Present” in which the older people and the youth come together to discuss various issues. In such forums, the older generation explained the role of grandparents in sexual health education and passing down cultural norms and beliefs to the younger generation through story telling. Mama na Dada intends to expand the objective of this program by including women’s participation in leadership and governance.
AFRICA ON THE BRINK - for Amnesty International Australia, Jan 2009
Conflict, the common denominator throughout Africa, is a recipe for human rights violations, writes Jedida Oneko
Africa seems to be a continent plagued by humanitarian and human rights crises.The majority of the population in most countries is affected, and people have watched as progress achieved since they gained their independence has been eroded by political instability and the humanitarian predicaments faced by the poor. Injustice and insecurity go hand in hand with poverty, disease and displacement.
Somalia, which has had no effective government since 1991, is described as one of the most dangerous countries in the world. With most of the population armed to the teeth, decades of conflict have seen more than a million people displaced. Coupled with drought and famine, this has left three million people (a third of the population) with inadequate access to water, food and health services.
President Abdullahi Yusuf, who recently resigned, had control over only Baioda and parts of the capital Mogadishu. The rest of the country is run by warlords who rule with impunity. Hardline Islamist groups impose Sharia law of the type that recently saw a 13-year-old girl stoned to death because she had been raped. (see Human Rights Defender December/January/February 2008/9)
Sharia law is applied in Nigeria too – but only to the poor, with the wealthy seemingly exempt from punishment for their crimes.
Coup culture
In many other parts of Africa judicial institutions are under the control of authoritarian governments. There has been a trend for African leaders to attain power by force and retain it by military control. Guinea, for example, is facing further military rule since the death of President Lansana Conte late last year. He had come into power through a military coup over Sekou Toure.
Guineans have had their freedom curtailed for half a century and are among the poorest peoples in Africa. Bad governance has left a legacy of no water, no electricity and very little infrastructure. Most children do not complete primary education and have little prospect of employment as adults.
The military leaders have promised to hold elections and have set up a 32-member National Council for Democracy and Development – but the Guinean population is conditioned to hold out little hope for stability, let alone democracy.
The African Union (AU) called the military take-over in Guinea a “flagrant violation of the Guinean constitution” and suspended Guinea from the AU, with a six-month deadline to return to constitutional government. The junta has named Kabine Komara as the interim Prime Minister but says it will not hold elections until 2010, when President Conte’s term would have ended.
In August last year Mauritania experienced its fifth successful coup since gaining independence in 1960 – and only a year after the country’s first democratic presidential election. It was a bloodless coup, but Mauritanians nevertheless lost their short-lived right to freedom of choice.
The oppressed have become the oppressor in independent Africa. The emancipators from colonialism have become despots. This is epitomised by Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, who sees his role in liberating his country as a license to plunder it. “Only God can remove me from power,” he says.
It is impossible to calculate the rate of inflation in Zimbabwe (see Human Rights Defender September/October/November 2008) and its people are reduced to finding foreign currency for basic foodstuffs and household items – when these are available. The once-prosperous country’s smooth roads are riddled with potholes and the once-efficient health system is completely incapable of dealing with rampant AIDS, or with the cholera outbreak that has killed more than 200 and has now spread to South Africa and Botswana.
What hope is there for the future generations of Africa? If African leaders do not adopt a new form of governance, The Millennium Development Goals will not be achieved in 100 years, let alone by the 2015 target. Africa’s youth knows no world other than one in which leaders declare themselves elected for life and change constitutions or declare one party states to stay in power.
Child soldiers
Disaffected youngsters see conflict as a way of life and play war games in the street. They are easily recruited by militias as child soldiers in countries such as Sudan, Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda and Central African Republic.
In the DRC children are abducted by Laurent Nkunda’s rebel National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) and serve as porters, fighters or sex slaves. In the CAR and northern Uganda, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels under Joseph Kony are guilty of the same practice.
The lucky ones end up in the care of UK-based charity Save the Children, which attempts to return them to their families (if they are still alive) and rehabilitate them back into society.
In the DRC it is not only the children who live in fear. Displaced people are rounded up and used as human shields by the CNDP and the Democratic forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). In these countries as well as Sudan, Chad, Liberia, Rwanda, Kenya and others, rape is used as a weapon of war, leaving women too frightened to leave their camps or villages to collect firewood.
The plight of most African refugees is dismal. The estimated 4 million Zimbabweans, Malawians, Somalis and others who have fled to South Africa risk becoming victims of xenophobic attacks by locals protecting their jobs at a time of rampant unemployment and poverty. The problem is not confined to South Africa, with Sudanese refugees in Egypt reportedly being the target of racist attacks and falsely imprisoned.
As if human conflict is not enough, Africans seem in a perpetual conflict with nature. The Sahara desert is growing at 10 km a year, aggravating the traditional battle between Arabs and Africans for fertile land. Somalia and Ethiopia have suffered successive famines, with relief agencies often unable to reach those in need of help due to the fighting.
The breakdown in health services too takes its toll on the poor, with HIV/Aids pandemic and malaria still responsible for more deaths than Aids.
NOT ALL DOOM AND GLOOM
While the overall picture may be bleak, there is hope in many African countries. Ghana, for example, recently saw the type of peaceful and democratic transition of power that is an example to others.
President John Kufuor stepped down after prescribed two terms in office and President John Atta Mills, of the opposing National Democratic Congress, was elected. His rival, Nana Akufo-Ado conceded defeat gracefully. The peaceful handover was a far cry from the series of coups in Ghana between 1957 and 1981.
The positive impact made by local and international human rights and aid organisations does not grab the headlines in the same way as war and revolution – but it has a tremendous impact on the lives of people. For example, in Kenya the Kibera Women for Peace and Fairness is a movement inspired by the post-election violence that rocked East Africa’s ‘oasis of stability’ in December and January 2007/8. Formed in response to the police brutality, the group works to quell ethnic tensions in Kiberia slums, which were a hot-spot during the violence.
Justice seems to be finding its way through traditional African institutions as well as through international bodies.
Rwanda, through the communal gacaca courts, has successfully tried the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide which left almost a million die in 100 days. The UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, based in Arusha, Tanzanie, is due to wrap up this year and has to date convicted 34, acquitted six and is still trying 23 people in relation to the genocide. Among the penalties was a life sentence for Theoneste Bogosora, then Director of Cabinet in Rwanda’s Ministry of Defense and mastermind behind the genocide.
The International Criminal Court has paved the way for justice through the indictment and arrest warrants issued for the LRA’s Joseph Kony, CNDD’s Laurent Nkunda and the Sudanese President Al-Bashir – the first time a sitting head of state has been indicted. All three are charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity, putting aspiring warlords on notice that they are not beyond the law.
Human rights organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have put African issues on the world agenda through research, reporting and bringing the world spotlight to bear on the darkest corners of abuse. The plight of individuals, communities and entire nations has been highlighted and there have been some major outcomes from their advocacy, such as the UN’s decision to send peacekeeping forces into Sudan and the June 2008 UN classification of rape as a tactic of war.
Many African countries are signatories to UN human rights agreements and the rest of the world must continue to put pressure on African governments to honor these commitments.
SPORTING EVENT IN MAKUENI - EASTERN PROVINCE, KENYA
Using sports to create awareness on gender and governance issues, as well as encourage community members, especially women and youth, to register as voters.
On 24th April 2010, Mama na Dada Africa held a netball tournament for women, and a soccer tournament for youth, as an outreach activity to engage community members in a discussion on gender and governance issues as well as to promote the ongoing voter registration. The tournaments, which were held in Wautu shopping center, saw teams from Wautu and Ndolo locations battle for championship.
The day started with a meeting held at the Wautu shopping center, where the CWCs (Community women caucus) and the TOTs (Trained trainers) gave their reports on the outreaches they have been conducting since they were trained earlier in the year. The CWCs and TOTs, who were trained on gender and governance issues, gave verbal as well as written reports. The 25 CWCs and TOTs had each reached an average of 118 community members with information on gender and governance with a total of 2273 women and 677 men reached.
The day started with a meeting held at the Wautu shopping center, where the CWCs (Community women caucus) and the TOTs (Trained trainers) gave their reports on the outreaches they have been conducting since they were trained earlier in the year. The CWCs and TOTs, who were trained on gender and governance issues, gave verbal as well as written reports. The 25 CWCs and TOTs had each reached an average of 118 community members with information on gender and governance with a total of 2273 women and 677 men reached.
The two groups cited various challenges they faced while carrying out the step-down trainings, such as heavy rainfall, which made it difficult to travel to some areas. They also dealt with poor attendance of the meetings they had organized, caused by the heavy rainfall as well as negative attitude towards gender and governance issues. “Men were not responding very positively” one of the CWCs stated. “They fear for their positions as the head of the family if we empower women and encourage them to take part in leadership”.
The challenge of identity cards was reported by both groups as being complex. On the one hand, there is a large number of community members, especially women, who do not have ID cards and so could not complete the information on the registration forms during the step down trainings or forums organized by CWCs and TOTs. On the other hand, some were apprehensive to give out their ID numbers during registration, suspicious of what their ID numbers would be used for.
In one of the CWC reports of a visit to Kaiti constituency it said “The ID problem is very acute, because as we were in the (chief’s) office, a lady came with her daughter’s ID which had her name and a man’s photo on it”.
The issue of ID cards and voter registration misconceptions was addressed by Rhoda Mwove after the netball and football tournament when talking to the over one thousand community members who attended the day’s events. She encouraged women especially to register as voters and take part in the upcoming referendum. She also clarified issues of old ID cards saying that they could be used in voter registration.
Matolo, a youth and part of the TOT team, reiterated Rhoda’s comments and added “Although I am excited about the day’s events, I am disappointed that we did not have young girls participating in the sporting event”. He challenged the young women to be more proactive in community activities.
Jackson Mutio and Jeremiah Muthiani, IIEC (Interim Independent Electoral commission) agents collaborated with Mama na Dada to carry out voter registration on the day. They registered a total of 10 people, half of whom were women.
The event was also attended by Mr. Samson Akach the District Officer of Ilima Division, Mr. Robert Matano the Acting Chief of Wautu, Ms. Anastacia Makuta, the Assistant Chief of Ndolo, Reverend John Kioko of the Wautu ACK Parish, Mr. Masila Mutungi the former Councilor of Wautu as well as head teachers of the local primary and secondary schools.
“I will not allow community members to intimidate women” Mr Samson Akach said after narrating an incident where two older women were being forced to pay over one hundred thousand shillings for collecting firewood from someone’s land. Mr Akach said that the women had already sold one of their cows to pay the debt imposed by the land owner. “I will follow up on this case! These women are mothers and grand mothers and were collecting firewood to go and cook for their families” he said.Akach also encouraged women to apply for the posts of Chief of Wautu and Assistant Chief for Mbusyani by the 26th of May. “This post is not only for men” he said. “As long as you have the required C+ grade and necessary documents you are eligible to apply”.
After the DO’s speech, Angelina Kioko, one of the TOTs, approached the Mama na Dada team beaming: “You have empowered me so much. I have decided to apply for the post of Assistant Chief, and even my Mzee (husband) is supporting me”.
It was an exciting day for the Wautu netball team who beat their rivals, Ndolo 15-Nil. But in good “sports-womanship”, the Wautu team decided to give one score to their rivals from Ndolo location, so that the final score was 14-1. “I think they eat too much sugarcane and arrowroots in Ndolo” commented Victoria Nzume, a spectator and supporter of the Wautu team. “You can’t tell that some of the Wautu women are over 50 years old from the way they are jumping on the field”. Indeed, the teams comprised of women aged from 30 years to over 50 years old, and it was a spectacle to see how fit they are.
The Wautu soccer team was, however, very disappointed to lose on home ground to the Ndolo soccer team who beat them 5-4 after the teams went into golden goal and then penalty at the end of play time. The Ndolo team went home with a brand new ball for their victory. However, all teams were winners, as each team was awarded a set of uniforms for the team, subs and coach. The women’s netball teams were given a set of glasses and the winning team went away with a brand new professional ball.
Power in numbers - English
http://www.inwent.org/ez/articles/172270/index.en.shtml
Kenyan women play a major role in their nation’s economy. They produce lots of food and contribute to GDP. However, their achievements and interests hardly play a role in the nation’s economic sphere. Reliable statistics are an instrument to promote women’s rights.
[ By Jedida Oneko ]
Generally speaking, African data collection lacks accuracy and reliability. Government data is often considered corrupt and distorted, and in some places, civil wars make it impossible to compile accurate national statistics. Apart from authorities, however, non-governmental and community-based organisations also gather data, which helps to secure funding. International aid agencies have data too, but while they may be more strict about methodology, they are not always in touch with the cultural and political context at the grassroots level.
Statistics dealing with gender issues are hard to locate or depend on. They are necessary, however, to raise awareness of sexualised crimes and women’s contributions to the economy.
The Kenyan section of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA, Kenya – the Spanish acronym stands for Federacion Internacional de Abogadas) a watchdog organisation, carries out detailed research on conviction rates, evidence and burden of proof. They report on their findings in an effort to liberate Kenyan women. “Statistics inform our interventions,” Jane Serwanga, senior legal counsel at FIDA Kenya, points out.
FIDA also provides shadow reporting to ascertain that the Kenyan government complies with the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The organisation highlights women’s economic achievements. The goal is transformative change in policy, Serwanga explains, even though it is difficult to work within Kenya’s patriarchal system.
FIDA statistics tell interesting stories. Due to HIV/AIDS, women today head one third of Kenya’s households. Women make up 80 % of the agricultural workforce and they do 70 % of the work in the production of cash crops. However, they only get 60 % of agricultural income. Women are not allowed to own livestock, yet they perform 50 to 90 % of the labour in livestock rearing.
All too often, women are considered lesser than men. FIDA has counted 75 confusing and antiquated land laws built on the patriarchal model. The consequence is that women only have minimal, if any, right to own land, and it can be easily lost in cases of a husband’s death, divorce or separation. FIDA reports that “only five per cent of land in Kenya is registered by men jointly with women and only one per cent by women alone.”
Such statistics from FIDA have helped to bring about change. For example, if the current draft constitution is approved in the referendum in June, women will enjoy equal property rights with their male counterparts.
Despite such headway, FIDA documents also report lingering problems. Though the Kenyan government did acknowledge women’s domestic contribution in its 2006 report to CEDAW, “judges have held that only direct financial contribution will be accepted as an indicator of established property interest, excluding the valuable labour that the wife puts forth in the home”, FIDA points out.
Women MPs
Similarly, women have little say in Kenya’s government. Women make up a mere 7.1 % of the members of parliament. In comparison, Rwanda boasts a much higher share: 56 %. After the elections in 2008, The Washington Post praised Rwanda’s parliament for being “the first in the world where women claim the majority”.
There is a dark side to this success, however: It is a consequence of the 1994 genocide. Women in Rwanda now outnumber men by far. In 1995, 70 % of the country’s people were estimated to be female.
Similarly, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is the first woman president in Africa, but her achievement is painted against a bleak backdrop of Liberia’s civil war. It almost seems as if civil war is a prerequisite for higher female representation in Africa.
In Kenya, political parties falsely claimed 30 % female representation after the 2007 elections, which led to gruesome riots. But women’s rights activists say that female representation is meaningless anyway. According to the Women’s Shadow Parliament (WSP), “it has not translated into significant increases in women’s presence in party nominations, especially the main political parties”. Only 10.6 % (269 of 2,548) of the contestants during the elections were women. In general, women are relegated to junior capacities such as secretaries and messengers.
The WSP conducted a survey in the hope of determining actual female representation and roles after the disputed 2007 presidential elections. In a climate of hostility and – later – violence, the WSP researchers were viewed as opponents’ spies. The research depended mainly on information from questionnaires, which was limited and considered inaccurate. No official party records were provided.
The Sexual Offences Act
During the election campaign and during the riots afterwards, another age-old problem became evident once again: gender-based violence. Female political aspirants reported beatings and threats of physical and sexualised violence. Women and their children comprised the majority of displaced people. There was also an upsurge of reported
cases of sexualised assault.
In 2006, the Sexual Offences Act was passed in Kenya, thanks to data provided by the Nairobi Women’s Hospital’s Gender Violence Recovery Centre (NWH-GVRC) and Njoki Ndungu, a lawyer who was a member of parliament at the time. Though the problem of rape has not ceased, the bill created consequences like minimum sentences for sexual offenders. According to the Sexual Offences Act of Kenya website, “every 30 minutes, a woman is raped in Kenya”.
Without statistics provided by NWH-GVRC, the new law would not have been passed. Findings show that 49 % of Kenyan women have experienced violence in their lifetime; 83 % of women and children were physically abused in childhood; 46 % experienced sexual violence in childhood; 60 % did not report the abuse; and only 12 % reported to the local administration.
According to Lilian Kasina, the monitoring and evaluation officer of NWH-GVRC, there were approximately 635 reported cases of rape in the three months of post-election violence. However, Kasina says the actual figure was probably much higher, as there is “no harmonised national database on gender-based violence” and many cases went unreported. Kasina says the increase in reported cases is not only due to the continued awareness and education work done by GVRC centres, but also to the general increase of crime rates. Between 2001 and 2005 there were a total of 3,125 cases reported at GVRC, whereas in 2008 alone the number was 2,805.
Kasina hopes the National Commission on Gender, formed after the post-election violence, will have a national reach and provide accurate data on gender-based violence. Unfortunately, such commissions are often set up by African governments more to appease the people and the international community rather than to produce accurate data or even lasting change. But without the necessary statistics as support, the case for women’s rights in Kenya will remain bleak.
Kenyan women play a major role in their nation’s economy. They produce lots of food and contribute to GDP. However, their achievements and interests hardly play a role in the nation’s economic sphere. Reliable statistics are an instrument to promote women’s rights.
[ By Jedida Oneko ]
Generally speaking, African data collection lacks accuracy and reliability. Government data is often considered corrupt and distorted, and in some places, civil wars make it impossible to compile accurate national statistics. Apart from authorities, however, non-governmental and community-based organisations also gather data, which helps to secure funding. International aid agencies have data too, but while they may be more strict about methodology, they are not always in touch with the cultural and political context at the grassroots level.
Statistics dealing with gender issues are hard to locate or depend on. They are necessary, however, to raise awareness of sexualised crimes and women’s contributions to the economy.
The Kenyan section of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA, Kenya – the Spanish acronym stands for Federacion Internacional de Abogadas) a watchdog organisation, carries out detailed research on conviction rates, evidence and burden of proof. They report on their findings in an effort to liberate Kenyan women. “Statistics inform our interventions,” Jane Serwanga, senior legal counsel at FIDA Kenya, points out.
FIDA also provides shadow reporting to ascertain that the Kenyan government complies with the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The organisation highlights women’s economic achievements. The goal is transformative change in policy, Serwanga explains, even though it is difficult to work within Kenya’s patriarchal system.
FIDA statistics tell interesting stories. Due to HIV/AIDS, women today head one third of Kenya’s households. Women make up 80 % of the agricultural workforce and they do 70 % of the work in the production of cash crops. However, they only get 60 % of agricultural income. Women are not allowed to own livestock, yet they perform 50 to 90 % of the labour in livestock rearing.
All too often, women are considered lesser than men. FIDA has counted 75 confusing and antiquated land laws built on the patriarchal model. The consequence is that women only have minimal, if any, right to own land, and it can be easily lost in cases of a husband’s death, divorce or separation. FIDA reports that “only five per cent of land in Kenya is registered by men jointly with women and only one per cent by women alone.”
Such statistics from FIDA have helped to bring about change. For example, if the current draft constitution is approved in the referendum in June, women will enjoy equal property rights with their male counterparts.
Despite such headway, FIDA documents also report lingering problems. Though the Kenyan government did acknowledge women’s domestic contribution in its 2006 report to CEDAW, “judges have held that only direct financial contribution will be accepted as an indicator of established property interest, excluding the valuable labour that the wife puts forth in the home”, FIDA points out.
Women MPs
Similarly, women have little say in Kenya’s government. Women make up a mere 7.1 % of the members of parliament. In comparison, Rwanda boasts a much higher share: 56 %. After the elections in 2008, The Washington Post praised Rwanda’s parliament for being “the first in the world where women claim the majority”.
There is a dark side to this success, however: It is a consequence of the 1994 genocide. Women in Rwanda now outnumber men by far. In 1995, 70 % of the country’s people were estimated to be female.
Similarly, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is the first woman president in Africa, but her achievement is painted against a bleak backdrop of Liberia’s civil war. It almost seems as if civil war is a prerequisite for higher female representation in Africa.
In Kenya, political parties falsely claimed 30 % female representation after the 2007 elections, which led to gruesome riots. But women’s rights activists say that female representation is meaningless anyway. According to the Women’s Shadow Parliament (WSP), “it has not translated into significant increases in women’s presence in party nominations, especially the main political parties”. Only 10.6 % (269 of 2,548) of the contestants during the elections were women. In general, women are relegated to junior capacities such as secretaries and messengers.
The WSP conducted a survey in the hope of determining actual female representation and roles after the disputed 2007 presidential elections. In a climate of hostility and – later – violence, the WSP researchers were viewed as opponents’ spies. The research depended mainly on information from questionnaires, which was limited and considered inaccurate. No official party records were provided.
The Sexual Offences Act
During the election campaign and during the riots afterwards, another age-old problem became evident once again: gender-based violence. Female political aspirants reported beatings and threats of physical and sexualised violence. Women and their children comprised the majority of displaced people. There was also an upsurge of reported
cases of sexualised assault.
In 2006, the Sexual Offences Act was passed in Kenya, thanks to data provided by the Nairobi Women’s Hospital’s Gender Violence Recovery Centre (NWH-GVRC) and Njoki Ndungu, a lawyer who was a member of parliament at the time. Though the problem of rape has not ceased, the bill created consequences like minimum sentences for sexual offenders. According to the Sexual Offences Act of Kenya website, “every 30 minutes, a woman is raped in Kenya”.
Without statistics provided by NWH-GVRC, the new law would not have been passed. Findings show that 49 % of Kenyan women have experienced violence in their lifetime; 83 % of women and children were physically abused in childhood; 46 % experienced sexual violence in childhood; 60 % did not report the abuse; and only 12 % reported to the local administration.
According to Lilian Kasina, the monitoring and evaluation officer of NWH-GVRC, there were approximately 635 reported cases of rape in the three months of post-election violence. However, Kasina says the actual figure was probably much higher, as there is “no harmonised national database on gender-based violence” and many cases went unreported. Kasina says the increase in reported cases is not only due to the continued awareness and education work done by GVRC centres, but also to the general increase of crime rates. Between 2001 and 2005 there were a total of 3,125 cases reported at GVRC, whereas in 2008 alone the number was 2,805.
Kasina hopes the National Commission on Gender, formed after the post-election violence, will have a national reach and provide accurate data on gender-based violence. Unfortunately, such commissions are often set up by African governments more to appease the people and the international community rather than to produce accurate data or even lasting change. But without the necessary statistics as support, the case for women’s rights in Kenya will remain bleak.
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