KENYA: Violence Against Women on the Decline - Study

Gender-based violence, especially targeting women, significantly declined in the run up to the referendum compared to 2007 General Election period, a new study has revealed.

The survey, conducted by the Coalition on Violence Against Women- Kenya (COVAW -K), attributed the decline to an effective framework for Early Warning, Early Response system by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC), state security organs and civil society organisations.

Out of the 52 constituencies that COVAW monitored, incidences of violence against women were recorded in six. Even then, some were unrelated to the referendum process.

For instance, in Kibera in Langata constituency, a house agent was founding harassing a female tenant mother and her three children.

In Igembe North, female genital mutilation was performed on a young girl and an old lady was beaten up and her arm broken. These may not have been related to the electoral process at the time.

However, in Yatta constituency a lady was blocked from accessing a polling station, in Igembe North, a man threatened his wife not to vote `Yes` and in Mbooni, a lady was locked out as polling station agent and a male counterpart offered the position.

At a polling station in Emuhaya constituency, a lady was beaten up by the security detail at the polling station because she came to vote while drunk, the Gender-based Violence Monitoring Report documented.

“The peaceful pre-and post-referendum period was made possible through various initiatives by the government as well as its other organs as well as efforts made by the civil society organisations in preaching peace,” the report noted.

As a way forward, the report recommended up scaling the Early Warning Early Response mechanism to cover the entire country ahe3ad of the 2012 General Election.

“Such a system would seek to empower Kenyans and partners to act together, and in a cooperative manner not only to receive and act on early warnings on conflict and crime, but also to promote effective partnerships for national cohesion at various levels,” the report urged.

Speaking at the launch of the report Wednesday, US ambassador to Kenya Michael Ranneberger observed that violence against women still runs deep within the society.

Such violence is meant to weaken women at the domestic, political, economic, and social levels, he said.

“On the surface, Kenya is a progressive society but your statistics are worse than your neighbours in the region in terms of how you treat your women,” the envoy stated.

He urged women to take the lead in the implementation of the new Constitution to address issues that affect them adequately.

The women, the envoy said, should also focus on three key areas of dismantling the culture of impunity, negative ethnicity and what he termed the “terrible cycle of poverty".

“The first step of change is the implementation of the new constitution to create structures that will put women in their rightful place in the Kenyan society,” said Mr Ranneberger.

As those structures take effect, women's rights will be more protected, he added.

FIDA-Kenya deputy director Claris Ogangah urged the women to soldier on until they attain their goals of equality with men.