The Human Rights Digest is Amnesty International Kenya’s regular roundup of the latest human rights developments, analysis, campaigns, and actions from Kenya and beyond.

Nairobi, Kenya | 13 July 2026: We, the undersigned civil society organizations, human rights defenders, citizens, grass roots movements, and champions of accountability, strongly condemn the escalating, coordinated, and lawless campaign of intimidation leveled against The Institute for Social Accountability (TISA), its Executive Director, the entire team, and other Okoa Uchumi Campaign members.

A growing number of cases before Kenya’s courts show that state institutions created to protect our environment and wildlife are enabling their destruction as amendments to critical safeguard laws are introduced. Unless this is changes, the judiciary may be the last line of defence against state-led environmental destruction.

NAIROBI, 12 JULY 2026: Amnesty International Kenya calls on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to urgently investigate and prosecute election offenses undermining the integrity of the Ol Kalou by-election scheduled for 16 July 2026.

What is more astonishing? Seven citizens allegedly abducted, unlawfully detained, and tortured after a march honoring victims of police brutality on the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, or does the Interior Principal Secretary insist that no enforced disappearances have taken place under President Ruto’s administration? 

The Kenya Information and Communications (Amendment) Bill, 2025, currently before the National Assembly, promises to protect Kenyans from being overcharged for accessing the internet. It would give every internet subscriber a meter number, require providers to monitor each person’s use of their connection, and have those meter numbers reported to a government regulator once a year.

The 29th June 2026 Daily Nation headline understates the seriousness of what Kenyans have been told happened to students at St George’s Girls Senior School. The allegations reported by students describe conduct that, if confirmed, goes far beyond an “inappropriate body search.” They describe conduct that amounts to sexual assault and serious violations of children’s rights committed under the guise of school security.

In December 2025, Australia became the first country in the world to bar anyone under 16 from holding a social media account. Within a day, its own prime minister was dealing with the predictable result. Teenagers flooded the comment section on Anthony Albanese’s TikTok account, including one that read, “I’m still here, wait until I can vote.” A 14-year-old, in New South Wales, had already told the Washington Post weeks earlier that she planned to log back into Snapchat and Instagram using her mother’s Face ID. On Reddit, teenagers traded tips on beating facial age checks, including printing a mesh face mask bought from Temu. The free VPN app Windscribe reported a 400 percent jump in Australian downloads in the first 24 hours after the law took effect. Leonardo Puglisi, the teenage founder of the youth outlet 6 News Australia, said his platform barely felt the impact at all.

Now firmly etched in the national conscience, the second anniversary of 25 June 2024 thankfully passed without fatalities and few injuries. The mothers of those we commemorated once again turned private grief into another historical moment of national resistance.

Thursday, 25 June 2026 | Nairobi, Kenya — The Police Reforms Working Group (PRWG) condemns in the strongest terms the widespread violations of constitutional rights witnessed during the Gen Z memorial protests held across Kenya on 25 June 2026.

NAIROBI, 24 JUNE 2026: Amnesty International Kenya strongly condemns the arrest of activist Bob Njagi in Kajiado County over allegations that he was mobilising support for the peaceful memorial processions scheduled for Thursday, 25 June 2026, in Kitengela Town.

NAIROBI, 24 JUNE 2026: The Law Society of Kenya and Police Reforms Working Group note the planned nationwide memorial processions scheduled for Thursday, 25 June 2026, organised largely by Gen Z activists and citizens to commemorate those who lost their lives during the June 2024 protests.