STATEMENT ON THE COMMEMORATION OF 16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM AGAINST GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE

The National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC) joins Kenya and the global community in commemorating the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence (GBV). This campaign and corresponding events happen every year from 25th November (the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women) to December 10th, the World Human Rights Day. The theme for this year’s campaign is “Towards Beijing +30: UNiTE to End Violence Against Women and Girls”

The commencement of the commemoration on 25th November 2024 will mark the 25th anniversary of the United Nations General Assembly’s designation of the day as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The campaign and events will be centred on the priorities of the Beijing +30, specifically a review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and Political Declaration. At the same time, the global community will be commemorating the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA). It is the BPfA that flagged out Violence against Women and Girls as a significant barrier to achieving gender equality. The BPfA calls upon governments to take decisive actions to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls.

GBV is inarguably a barrier to achieving sustainable development. Kenya however, has over time made several global commitments and enacted legal and policy frameworks aimed at eliminating GBV. Over the years, the country has also invested in strategic programmatic interventions directed at eradicating GBV. Even though the pace of fighting against GBV is slow, the country celebrates some significant milestones. The country has also noted major gaps and weaknesses in the continuum of prevention, response and management of GBV particularly in the workplace, private spaces and small-scale businesses, institutions of learning, at home, at the family level, and among communities with deep-rooted cultural values and practices that normalize GBV, just to mention a few.

The rapid adoption of technology, communications and digital solutions has been associated with the emergence of new drivers of violence. The proliferation and evolution of Technology Facilitated Gender Based Violence (TFGBV) through digital platforms continue to threaten the safety and well-being of women and children. This problem calls for the immediate attention of the duty bearers to review existing GBV laws, formulate additional comprehensive laws and policies, and invest in new machine intelligence solutions to intercept the vice. The Commission commends the Parliament and the National Council on the Administration of Justice for their efforts in the review process of the 2006 Sexual Offences Act, and consideration of key aspects of TFV in the proposed revised bill.

Regrettably, the Commission has since 2022 noted the recurring albeit- on a larger scale- incidences of femicide, where women and girls are killed solely on account of specific gender intentions and motivations. Disturbingly, the perpetrators of the violence are intimate partners, and in some family members and close acquaintances of the victim. The femicide,

the much-unreported cases of domestic violence, sexual harassment in the workplace, Female Genital Mutilation, early and forced child marriages, sexual exploitation of girls and boys, trafficking of women and girls, violence against women in elections and politics, the escalating levels of economic, psychological violence, and technology-facilitated violence points to the need for a renewed commitment by the National and County Governments, the private sector, non-State actors, philanthropists and development partners, and the communities to ending GBV. The national human rights institutions, the women's rights defenders, media, statistical bodies and academia must also step up their efforts to document and report cases of GBV, document successful stories in averting GBV, and provide much-needed data on prevalence, and combination of solutions for ending GBV that are efficient and cost-effective.

The National Gender and Equality Commission in particular commends the Presidency for allocating the initial financial resources required to start off the 2024 campaign on the 16 days of activism against GBV 2024. The political goodwill is also immense. While more resources are needed to sustain the momentum that shall be established this November, the country has the opportunity to address the following priority actions for accelerating the elimination of GBV.

a) Strengthen the multi-sectoral response to GBV at national and county levels, and invite the private sector and the communities to share quick win solutions that may stall or even reverse the prevalence of GBV while preserving the gains made so far.

b) Strengthen the legislative protection measures to deter the occurrence and repeated occurrence of GBV offences. There is a need to serve justice expeditiously and ensure full implementation of GBV laws/policies.

c) Establish/relaunch the safe spaces, POLICARE, and recovery centres for women and girls including survivors of GBV (men, boys and gender-diverse persons). We encourage the full application of a survivor-centred approach in care, service delivery and programming that prevents further stigmatization, and cause of harm, eliminates trauma and re-traumatization, and links survivors to psychological, livelihood and empowerment solutions.

d) Strengthen the referral system within the pathway of justice, response, and management of GBV.

e) Greater investment in prevention especially among younger populations. This includes greater involvement of men and boys drawn from various sectors including transport, mining, fishing, agriculture, faith sector etc in the campaign. As long as men are bystanders, then it is impossible to end GBV.

f) Commence intensive programs on the rehabilitation of perpetrators

g) Design an educational program with powerful messages on the need to stop violence and protect women and girls from incidences of all forms of harm and violence

The NGEC remains committed to continued collaboration with stakeholders in the prevention, response and management of GBV, and the protection and promotion of the rights of women, girls, and other vulnerable groups. Together, we can create a safe Kenya free from GBV.

 

SIGNED

Thomas Koyier, EBS

Ag. CHAIRPERSON