Civic space in East Africa is shrinking fast. Across Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, abductions, harassment, and detention of activists and political opponents are becoming frighteningly routine. Even more alarming is how these abuses are increasingly occurring across borders and how our governments seem to collaborate in committing them.
The recent release of the Aga Khan University’s study on femicide related media coverage in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda re-ignited a sense of personal urgency. Shockingly, the Gender-Based Violence Technical Working Group Report remains shelved in the Office of the Deputy President. How can we leverage these findings to reignite public and policy momentum to ensure meaningful action?
In Quarter 3 of 2025, young leaders across Kenya amplified campaigns that challenge coercive consent, push back against cyberbullying, and demand transparent, rights-respecting data governance. This quarterly digest captures our workshops, community dialogues, litigation work, youth campaigns, and the people powering a safer digital future.
Nairobi, Kenya, October 27, 2025: VOCAL Africa, the Law Society of Kenya, and Amnesty International continue to express our deep and growing concern over the enforced disappearance of Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo, who remain in custody under troubling circumstances. Informal sources indicate that the two’s health has begun to deteriorate after more than 25 days in detention without access to consular, legal, or medical services.
Kenyan citizens Nicholas Oyoo and Bob Njagi were abducted in broad daylight by uniformed officers in Kampala, Uganda’s capital city. Since then, they have simply vanished. Uganda’s police and military deny involvement, and the Kenyan government has gone silent. Are we witnessing a return to Idi Amin’s terror, or does the 1986 National Resistance Movement (NRM) promise of justice and human rights still have legs three months before the January 2026 general elections?
Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo — two young Kenyan men — were abducted in Uganda. For days, their families have lived in fear and uncertainty, desperate for news of their safety. Every moment without answers deepens the pain, the worry, and the injustice.
Nairobi, Kenya, October 21, 2025: Today, Amnesty International Kenya, the Law Society of Kenya, and Vocal Africa are calling on all concerned people across the world to sign on to this virtual letter to Uganda President Yoweri Museveni, demanding the immediate and unconditional release of Kenyan human rights defenders Bob Njagi and Nick Oyoo: https://www.amnestykenya.org/petition-free-bob-njagi-and-nicholas-oyoo/
Described by his old friend Anyang’ Nyong’o as “the return of the lion to the mountain,” Raila Amolo Odinga’s death has left Kenya transfixed and in deep reflection. While most attention has focused on his political choices and legacy, his lifelong commitment to human rights deserves equal recognition. During the 1980s and 1990s, Raila Odinga joined a small, yet dedicated network of courageous activists committed to restoring multi-party democracy. These constitutional reforms would bring to an end oppressive laws restricting civic freedoms for millions. For these conscious choices, he directly experienced several significant human rights violations.
15 October 2025, Nairobi, Kenya: Amnesty International Kenya expresses its condolences following the passing of Raila Amolo Odinga, former Prime Minister of Kenya, and a former Amnesty International Prisoner of Conscience. Mr. Odinga died this morning in India, at the age of 80, following a cardiac arrest while undergoing treatment.
Nairobi South Ward MCA Hon. Waithera Chege’s reading of a motion this week to commemorate the life of the late Pheroze Nowrojee (1941–2025) by naming a road after him was well received by community associations and residents in the city. This practice of memorializing people is well established and, in the case of the late Senior Counsel, offers another way of recognising more than three decades of public service to the constitution and his country.
Are you passionate about human rights, technology, and creating a world where young voices lead the way? Do you believe young people have the power to shape knowledge, influence decisions, and transform realities? Amnesty International Kenya invites you to join a new generation of young researchers (18 – 24 years) who are reimagining how human rights research is done — by young people, for young people.
Nairobi, 13 October 2025: Amnesty International Kenya extends its warm congratulations to Claris Ogangah for her appointment as the fifth Chairperson of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights. Her approval by the National Assembly in September and subsequent appointment by President William Ruto on 2 October 2025 marks a pivotal moment for Kenya’s human rights landscape. We celebrate this milestone with optimism and a renewed sense of solidarity between our two institutions.