Call for action as post-poll violence victims speak out

Kenyan member of parliament Millie Odhiambo says unless women speak out, sexual offences committed in times of conflict will go unpunished.

As Kenya takes account of what happened in 2008 and prosecutes perpetrators, the gender-based violence dimension must be brought into focus.

“As a country, we were not prepared for the level of gender-based and sexual violence that was witnessed. By documenting this, it shall provide a basis for our government to develop policies on preparedness to handle such scenarios. The evidence will also act as shock therapy for Kenya and we shall never forget what happened to these survivors,” Odhiambo says.

Minimal prosecution

Judy Waguma of AWCFS says despite the existence of legislation such as the Sexual Offences Act, there has been minimal prosecution of sexual offences during the post-election chaos.

“During situations of crisis — as evidenced by the post-election violence —the government response to sexual violence is very limited, and it is usually the civil society organisations that have to step in to design and implement responses. Therefore there is a marked lack of access to justice for survivors of sexual violence.”

Odhiambo says the project to document testimonies comes at an opportune time, ahead of the entry of International Criminal Court investigators who will carry out a fact-finding mission on Kenya’s post-election violence, after the government failed to act on findings and recommendations of the Waki Commission.

ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo will be gathering evidence for prosecutions of those “most responsible” for the violence. The documentation project should be an important part of making sure responsibility for gender-based crimes is not neglected.