Every day, human rights defenders put their lives, freedom, and mental wellbeing on the line to protect our rights. Amnesty does not take government funding to support them. We rely on people like you to make sure those that are targeted are never left to face these risks alone.
Every day, human rights defenders put their lives, freedom, and mental wellbeing on the line to protect our rights. Amnesty does not take government funding to support them. We rely on people like you to make sure those that are targeted are never left to face these risks alone.
For Immediate Release
JOB TITLE: Program Intern
This week’s vicious public attack on Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi, captured on CCTV and carried out in a busy commercial space, shatters any lingering illusion that Kenya’s next General Election will be calm, rules‑based, or insulated from violence. Now that we have another example of political violence, what would a responsible security management strategy look like?
As of the 2019 national census in Kenya, over 900,000 Kenyans lived with a disability, representing 2.2% of the general population. According to the United Nations Population Fund in Kenya (UNFPA), mobility-related disabilities account for about 42% of this total. In comparison, visual-related disabilities account for 36.4%, cognitive disabilities for 23.2%, and hearing-related disabilities for 16.7%. It is also noted that more than 80% of persons with disabilities live in rural areas. These Persons with disabilities continue to face a myriad of challenges living their day-to-day lives, with children missing school, parents can’t access opportunities, and the elderly remain confined to their homes, simply because assistive devices seem to be a luxury rather than a necessity.
Easter weekend finds me in Laikipia, apparently one of Kenya’s happiest counties. Amid public tensions between Senators and Governors, dissatisfaction with the cost of living, and a looming global crisis in fertilizer, oil, and exports caused by the US war on Iran, Easter’s message of renewal and hope feels timely, especially a few days before the Africa Urban Forum opens in Nairobi.
Kisumu High Court’s 25 March judgment this week, awarding Sh 38.6 million to 28 victims and families, validates their long-ignored cries for justice. It confirms what human rights organisations, opposition politicians, and the media have extensively documented. Police violence during the 2023 “Sufuria” protests was deliberate, excessive, and brutally unlawful. What implications does this ruling have for the victims and the path to reparations and justice for all whose rights are violated while exercising the right to expression and assembly?
There is something powerful, almost electric, about a movement that is born outside the confines of power. Tuko Kadi did not begin in boardrooms. It was not commissioned, funded, or focus-grouped. It emerged organically, defiantly, from the fingertips of young Kenyans who have grown tired of watching democracy happen to them instead of with them.
This year’s commemoration comes at a time when Kenya is still reckoning with the escalating repression faced by young activists both online and offline. Between 2024 and 2025, the country witnessed an unprecedented wave of youth-led digital and street protests against corruption, economic exclusion, and state violence. As highlighted in Amnesty International’s 2025 report “This Fear, Everyone is Feeling It”, state and pro-government actors extended their crackdown into digital spaces through online harassment, coordinated troll campaigns, doxing, illegal surveillance, and tech‑facilitated gender-based violence (TfGBV).
The Missing Voices 2025 Annual Report exposes the continued crisis of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in Kenya. Behind every statistic is a life cut short, a family left behind, and a justice system that too often fails to act.
With the legal hurdles now cleared, compensation for victims of violent policing during protests is back on the table. The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, now affirmed as the constitutional body tasked with delivering the President’s pledge, must define its path and steer clear of new obstacles.