Based on survivor testimonies documented by Amnesty International Kenya.

With 16 Utumishi Girls Academy students dead and 74 injured, the nation reels from another horrific tragic incident. As feminists are forced to organize another public memorial this coming Madaraka Day, what would it take to keep all Kenya’s women and children safe?

In April 2026, Davine Kwamboka, a mother of two in Migori County, was brutally killed, with CCTV later revealing her husband and two men attempting to dispose of her body. Her case is not isolated but part of a disturbing pattern of femicide marked by violence, silence, and grief. Anita’s killing in Nakuru, murdered by her husband, a Kenya Defense Forces soldier, in front of their young child, mirrors the same reality. These are not just individual tragedies, but stark reminders of a systemic failure to protect women before their lives are reduced to statistics.

Hon. Hanna Cheptumo,

After months of seemingly endless waiting, the Gender‑Based Violence Technical Working Group’s report has finally reached the Presidency. What exactly have they proposed, and how do we ensure those recommendations translate into real action?

Diana Russell, a pioneer researcher on violence against women, is credited as having popularized the use of the term ‘femicide’ to describe the killing of women because of their gender. She used the term publicly when she testified on the crimes against women during the first International Tribunal on Crimes Against Women held in Belgium in 1976. In a 2022 report, UN Women and UNODC estimated that in 2023, Africa had over 20,000 women killed by their partners. The Initiative for Strategic Litigation (ISLA) is trying to hold states accountable for failure to tackle this crime and is advocating for the inclusion of femicide as a crime within African legal systems.  

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?

The world marks the United Nations International Day of Families next Thursday 15 May. How can we ensure we all stay focussed on what ails the Kenyan family and not be hijacked by narrow agendas financed by foreigners.

New statistics released this week demonstrate violence remains a major threat to the safety and dignity of nearly 29 million Kenyan women and girls. Despite the creation of a large taskforce and the recent President’s Sh 100 million directive, the campaign against femicide needs a change of direction to effectively address this pressing national challenge.

This year’s 16 days of activism against gender-based violence campaign seems set to take on greater significance. With the substantial spike in femicide cases, it is time for new agencies and actors to join the faithful feminists who raise awareness and demand that men stop killing women each year.

Nairobi, 26th January 2024: Amnesty International Kenya strongly condemns the profiling, torture and killing of women and any other individual based on their identity. Over 10 cases of femicide have been reported across the country since 1 January 2024. That is, every second day, a woman has been brutalised and killed because of her identity. Between 2016 and 2023, over 500 women have been killed. The majority of those murdered were below the age of 35 years and were killed by intimate partners or people known to them.

By Benta Moige