State-sanctioned human rights violations in Kenya: countering repression with resistance
Posted: 29 August, 2025 Filed under: Edward Kahuthia Murimi | Tags: 2024 Finance Bill, arbitrary arrests, barbaric governance, CIVICUS, death while in police custody, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, global alliance for civil society organisations, human rights, human rights violations, Kenya, Kenya’s Constitution, Multinational Security Support mission to Haiti, President Ruto, protesters, public policy, Rex Masai, right of peaceful assembly, right to life, rule of law, the right to freedom of expression, watchlist, widespread human rights abuses Leave a comment
Author: Edward Kahuthia Murimi
Advocate of the High Court of Kenya
Introduction
Kenya’s human rights situation has deteriorated in the recent past, and the state-sponsored human rights violations in the country can no longer be ignored. The global alliance for civil society organisations, CIVICUS, has recently added Kenya to its watchlist and rated the country as ‘repressed’ following what the organisation described as ‘a disturbing escalation in state-led repression of civic freedoms’. This article aims to shine a light on escalating human rights violations in Kenya in the hope that an international readership will inform some form of restraint by the authorities. It also highlights the disconnect between Kenya’s theoretical commitments to international human rights norms and processes and the blatant disregard for these same norms in practice. It argues that deliberate resistance is the most realistic response to the current onslaught on the exercise of human rights by President Ruto’s government.
Integrating gender-inclusive approaches in transitional justice processes in Africa
Posted: 26 February, 2024 Filed under: Mary Izobo | Tags: African countries, conflict-related sexual violence, displacement, diverse sexual orientations, empowerment, enforced disappearances, femicide, forced marriages, gender identities, gender norms, gender perspectives, gender-inclusive approaches, human rights violations, patriarchal systems, rights of women and girls, societal transformation, socio-economic discrimination, Transitional Justice, unconstitutional changes Leave a comment
Author: Mary Izobo
International Human Rights Lawyer, Gender Equality Advocate and Governance Expert
During conflict, gender perspectives reveal the divergent impacts felt by all individuals –women, men, vulnerable and marginalised people, and those with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. As a result, transitional justice in African countries must not only acknowledge but also actively engage with these gendered realities, particularly focusing on the experiences of women and girls. In the pursuit of reconciliation and healing, it is crucial to recognize the unique impact of conflicts on women and girls, exacerbated by patriarchal systems. By embracing gender-inclusive approaches within transitional justice, we pave the path towards a fairer, more inclusive society for all.
This is no magic trick: I can make you disappear
Posted: 29 August, 2014 Filed under: Thato Motaung | Tags: closed state, enforced disappearances, Eritrea, International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance, Keren, political prisoners, repression, ternational Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance Leave a comment
Author: Thato Motaung
Researcher, Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria
International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance: 30 August 2014
To cite magic here wrongly alludes to fantasy and enchantment. The reality is people disappear without warning and information in Eritrea. There is no make-believe; from one day to the next, a person can vanish into thin air.
The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (2006) defines enforced disappearances as:
“… the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State”.
Enforced disappearances are followed by the State’s refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or the concealment of the fate or whereabouts of disappeared persons. Enforced disappearances, which constitute a crime against humanity, in effect place the ‘disappeared’ outside the protection of the law.
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