The agony of being a female human rights defender

Being a human rights defender has been touted as one of the riskiest jobs in the world.

The job is even considered riskier for women. One woman in Kisumu County is a living testimony to this reality. Ms Karen Wambui Kiarie, a prominent human rights defender, is the convener of Nyando social justice centre in Ahero town, Kisumu County.

The centre has been at the forefront of helping survivors to get justice. She has been rescuing victims of sexual violence and helping the police in documenting evidence, including taking the survivors to hospital for medical attention.

“We are always there to rescue victims who are under threat from perpetrators or their relatives. Due to such threats, parents or guardians usually fear to follow up the cases and that is where we usually come in. We also do citizen arrests of perpetrators and hand them over to the police,” Ms Kiarie tells Nation.Africa.

Since 2019, Ms Kiarie says, they have handled about 520 cases, most of them pending in court. She adds that there have been many convictions due to their interventions.

Ms Kiarie says most of sexual violence cases are defilement, revealing that in a week, she gets at least three such cases.

“We have many cases still being thrown out and perpetrators being acquitted due to poor collection and preservation of evidence. Not all evidence collected usually gets to government chemists on time. Police officers are also not writing or recording statements properly, thus creating some gaps.”

Through her work, she has attracted enemies and friends in equal measure. Those who do not like her include perpetrators, their relatives and others who are against survivors pushing for justice.

She shares with Nation.Africa the agony of being a female human right defender. The job, she says, has put her life in great danger as she has to endure threats.

In July, the Nyando justice centre was razed by arsonists at night. The fire destroyed crucial documents that contained vital evidence, including of the defilement cases she was following up.

She lost property worth Sh3.5 million. The centre was just a few metres away from the Ahero Police Station. What baffled her and residents was the discovery at the scene of used tear gas canisters the following morning.

Ms Kiarie suspects that the tear gas canisters could have been used to torch the centre.

“I lost an investment of more than 10 years. At that time, we were documenting cases of people who had been shot dead during the opposition demonstrations and the Sondu clashes. We are still waiting for justice to be served and the arsonist brought to book. The centre had become a threat to some of the duty bearers who felt our evidence could end up exposing their cover-ups.”

Also destroyed were computers and counselling and testing equipment.

Other challenges she has had to cope with include her team members being arrested and framed with trumped-up charges.

“I no longer work from the office. I work underground as I feel my life is in real danger. It has not been easy for me and other members. We have been living in fear permanently. If you see people burning the centre, they are definitely coming for you.”

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She says survivors need proper interrogation, which includes psychosocial support, counselling and temporary relocation. The centre has found a temporary home where it is currently located courtesy of a well-wisher who paid for them a six months’ rent.

In some cases, they rogue police deny them crucial documents like OB numbers and P3 forms, thus hampering their quest for justice.

To address this gap, the rights defender is proposing the strengthening of referral pathways, including training police officers in how to collect evidence and properly record statements and evidence.

The centre has been doing a lot of advocacy work to enlighten residents on their rights and what human rights violations entail.

“We are empowering the communities and community-based organisations to speak out about human rights violations taking place in their localities. We have also been undertaking mentorship in schools and rescuing victims whose parents fear to follow up their cases.”

Capacity building

The centre is a beneficiary of an ongoing project by UN Women and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) supported by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation to build the capacity of duty bearers.

UN Women Kenya County Representative Anna Mutavati says while the initial focus of the project was on preventing and responding to violence against women during electoral processes, the scope broadened to strengthening prevention and response efforts for gender-based violence, with emphasis on improving access to justice, and empowering women as leaders in peacebuilding initiatives.

“We have built the capacity of stakeholders such as health, police, and judiciary professionals, among other duty bearers, to offer high-quality services that respond to the needs of GBV survivors.

“Additionally, we have supported survivors in accessing legal, health, counselLing, and shelter services. We have improved coordination among stakeholders working in prevention and response to GBV,” says Ms Mutavati.

She notes the project has contributed to ending GBV impunity by encouraging community dialogues to reject harmful practices and social norms that condone and encourage the vice. “We have also built the capacity of the justice system to deliver justice for survivors without delay.”

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Mr Giovanni Grandi, the head of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation Regional Office in Nairobi, says that without ambitious investments to scale up prevention programmes, effective policies, and provision of support services, countries will fail to end GBV by 2030.

“This year, we launched the third phase of the ‘Let It Not Happen Again’ project, which brings our total commitment to this initiative to a staggering 2.7 million Euros (Sh446 million). Recently, we launched an initiative worth 4 million euros (Sh650 million) specifically targeting women empowerment, improving health and environmental sustainability in arid and semi-arid lands,” Mr Grandi tells Nation.Africa.

Ms Kiarie is happy that SGBV is reducing as people get to know it’s a crime to beat up and sexually abuse girls and women. Her work has been recognised. In 2021, the Nyando justice centre was named the best centre in Kenya by Kituo Cha Sheria and the Paralegal Society of Kenya.

This year, she won the innovation award by an organisation in Uganda over her innovative ways of combating SGBV. Her centre as a result received $1,000 (Sh156,000).

In Kenya, women rights defenders have been living in fear following several brutal murders of their colleagues. Last year, Elizabeth Ibrahim Ekaru, a leading human right defender in Isiolo, was brutally murdered over her work.

The mother of five was stabbed to death at Kambi Garba allegedly over a land dispute. The incident coincidentally occurred within the same area where her husband and son were killed 11 years ago following ethnic clashes that left 10 people dead and over 20 houses torched.

Another woman human rights defender, environmentalist Joannah Stunchbury, was shot dead in 2021. She was killed for allegedly standing up to environmental injustice in Kiambu forest. She had opposed attempts by powerful local businessmen to build in the forest, and had received death threats.

In August 2021, two women environmental activists pursuing justice for victims of environmental pollution in the Owino Uhuru area of Mombasa also featured in a statement by the organisations.

According to Front Line Defenders, at least 331 human rights defenders promoting social, environmental, racial and gender justice in 25 countries were murdered in 2020. The advocacy group added that scores more were beaten, detained and criminalised because of their work.

In 2021, 358 human rights defenders were murdered in 35 countries. A larger proportion of murdered defenders were women.

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