JOB TITLE: Equality & Anti Program Discrimination Intern

For over a decade, Kenyans have buried protesters, treated life-changing injuries and watched cycles of violence repeat on our streets and in our communities. A new draft Freedom of Assembly Bill offers a chance to break this pattern. What does it get right, where does it depart from previous bills, and what must be strengthened to ensure that demonstrations are protected, not punished?

Post about a breaking news event, share an unverified allegation, or even repeat a rumor in a WhatsApp group, and until this year you could, in theory, have faced up to ten years in prison. That was the potential consequence of Sections 22 and 23 of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, which criminalized the publication of “false” information using broad and vaguely defined offences. The provisions cast a long shadow over anyone with access to a phone or the internet. On 6 March, however, the Court of Appeal struck them down. In a case brought by the Bloggers Association of Kenya, International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) Kenya, Article 19 and others, the court called them so broad they were “like unguided missiles.” 

While elections produce both winners and losers, the real loser in Ol Kalou was not UDA’s candidate but the State itself. Unless Kenya radically reforms its electoral environment, the by-election offers yet another warning of how state conduct is undermining our electoral democracy. What lessons should we draw, and what must change before the 2027 General Election?

NAIROBI, 19 JULY 2026: Amnesty International Kenya strongly condemns the state-sponsored terror, voter suppression, and egregious human rights violations witnessed during the Ol Kalou constituency by-election on 16 July 2026. The deployment of armed, masked gunmen in unmarked vehicles to disrupt democratic processes marks a dangerous regression in Kenya’s constitutional journey.

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.