It’s my right to be safe ,,feature
Story by Caro , Kwale
A mans home is his castle,but for some women a mans home is her cage.
The fight against Gender based violence is more prominent today as it was in the 1980s.
Rights abuses meted on women and girls by the superior gender to show that they dominate them.,Since 1991, human rights organizations globally have been fighting against gender based violence that has mostly affected girls and women.
The sad thing is that , the violence against women are usually carried out by people closely related t0 victims .
There is lack of up to date national data on the prevalence of domestic violence in Kenya but time bound data shows how often the violence could be happening .
According to the 2014 published data, around 41 percent of women reported having experienced physical or sexual violence from their husbands .
The World Health Organisation points out that as many as 38 percent of all murder cases of women in Kenya are committed by intimate partners.
Mlongo Mbui ‘s story shows how slow Kenya is fighting gender based violence, Ms Mbui at the age of 29, a mother of 6 from B’ang’a village, Matuga Sub County, in the Southern Coast of Kenya was close to loosing her life in the hands of her husband after being accused of having an affair with a neighbour.
“ My husband who has been threatening to kill me several times , came home and found me in bed sleeping. He told me that today is the end of my life, your parents will come and collect your dead body,so he started assaulting me, strangling my neck, and canning me severely,” cried Ms.Mbui .
It came about after The husband suspected his wife of having an affair with another man, so he decided to monitor her wife's every move.
“ This was his third time assaulting me, he reasons that I'm having an affair with other men, so on that very day he asked me to take him where I normally go to relive myself in the bush because we don’t have a toilet. There he started beating me,” Claimed Ms.Mbui .
She reported the matter to the nearest police station in Kwale but no action was taken ,she decided to find refuge at her mothers home and carry the burden of raising her six children .
Gender based violenc is real ,confirms Binti Hamisi Kadide a female journalist working for local radio station in southern coast of kenya ,her ambition to become a sub - chief in Golini sub location aborted despite her qualifications .
“ Following job challenges I face in my area of work ,I decided to change my carreer and applied for a sub chief position in my area which was advertised on one of Kenyan newspaper ,i qualified for the job but the top security officer who was conducting the exercise ,demanded sexual act for him to offer me the position ,”Claimed Ms.Kadide .
Ms. Kadide confirms many female journalists undergoing gender based violence from their sources but they don’t report to the relevant authorities fearing for their safety and security following the big position the perpetrators holds .
“ Many cases are not reported because nobody guarantees victims safety and security ,female journalists still fall victims of unwanted love affairs ,threats from their sources ,suffering psychologically because of their vulnerability ,” reiterated Ms.kadide
Ms, kadide states that in future Kenya might not have female journalists if amicable plans to end GBV will not be achieved .
“ The community see journalists as watchdogs who brings every happening into public ,so it becomes a challenge for a female journalist to amplify her voice or report a source who violent her rights fearing that the community will not believe in her , so many opt to quit ,so to end these abuses should be reported or else in future girls will not have passion in media industry ,”Lamented Ms.kadide .
She called upon female journalists and the community at large to amplify their voices to end gender based violence ,
“I’m calling upon the peace and security and human rights to come out loudly and advocate for peace and security so as to end gender based violence against women and ensure safe space in their areas of work as per the Kenyan constitution ,”Said Ms. Kadide
The European Union condemned the increasing cases of sexual violence in the world since the outbreak of the corona crisis
The ambassador of the European Union to Kenya Henriette Geiger says that no one has the right to hurt or kill another person on any basis because every human being has equal rights.
Ms. Geiger challenged the nations to find a suitable solution to deal with cases of gender violence in order to ensure development.
“Covid 19 has a tremendous search in gender based violence not only here in Kenya in the whole world ,this has to stop ,nobody has the right to hurt ,beat maim another human being ,no matter what the circumstance ,every person has the same right ,male ,female ,big tall,black ,white or whatever else ,”emphasized Ms Geiger .
National gender officer in Kwale county Nelly Amoite confirms alarming cases of gender based in the areas ,more than 7 cases reported everyweek .
“GBV cases are on rise in kwale county ,due to poverty levels ,parents allow their daughters to engage on commercial sex and cater for family needs ,so parents has contributed to a big percent of this cases ,this are just a few ,many cases are not reported ,community don’t want to report maybe because of their culture or religion they want it to remain as a secrecty ,” Said Ms. Amoite .
Ms.Amoite said that most cases are a result of economy crisis saying that the national government of Kenya through gender department is implementing income generating project for women so as to curb GBV in the community.
‘ We are encouraging women to take grants and start investing in businesses and manage their families instead of fighting their husbands who are not able to cater for their families ,we have also urged parents to take their girls to school as away of curbing early pregnancies and marriages and ensure that they get their fundamental rights in education ,”Emphasised Ms.Amoite .
On matters of security Ms.Amoite said they are engaging women on decision making because they are directly affected by insecurity issues and GBV .
“Women are most affected with insecurity that’s why we have engage them in decision making ,if we don’t have them in such engagement it becomes hard for them ,because in most cases ,people decide for them and they suffer a lot when disaster occurs ,also women are the target of gender based violence when there is insecurity so we found it good to have them on our round table when making this plans ,” Said Ms.Amoite .
Marere wa Mwachai peace advocate urged the Kenyan government to ensure victims of gender based violence have safe houses .
“Infact it will give a very good pride and it will give a very good feeling towards this ,if they can have a house keep them and then they also give them security to that particular house then women must be safe ,”Emphasized Ms.Mwachai .
Coalition on violence against women COVAW is also implement a project known as gender responsive budgeting to ensure that women voices are amplified and there are given priority by the governments to ensure gender equity and equality .
“so in this gender responsive budgeting it was very important for women to attend budget meetings so as to propose needs ,since we started this project we have seen changes among women ,so we are calling upon other civil societies oranisations to join hands on this ajenda of budgeting process to ensure women voices are hard ,because it does not add up to see funds distribution ,but women voices are not hard ,nobody knows what women needs ,” added Ms.chivumbe .
Nancy Njeru a gender rights advocate appealed to the county assemblies to approve a policy that will protect the rights of victims of gender based violence .
“lack of this policy has contributed to rise of gender based violence cases because our county kwale ,is yet to build safe houses for GBV victims ,to make sure their safety while awaiting for justice and action taken against the perpetrators ,” Urged Ms.Njeru .
On her side Sophy safari officer working for Nertwork for adolescent and youth of Africa NAYA said the organization is running a 5 years programme known as ‘ She Leads “ to empower girls and women and eliminate bad culture and traditions that encourages rights violation .
“the community has formed a board ,influential leaders board ,it’s a board that comprises of the community ,nyumba kumi leaders ,religious leaders ,kaya elders ,and through that board even before we do community sensitization ,the board conduct the sessions own its on without any support ,bad culture and traditions has increased cases of early marriages and dinied their education rights and also they are not allowed to contribute anything in presence of elders ,”Said Ms.Safari .
Millicent Odhiambo a board member of Sauti ya wanawake pwani organization that deals with gender based violence said the organization has started an initiative of featuring victims of gender based violence and come up with a book for the public to read and feel the agony GBV victims go through
“For that reason we are satisfied that when the public go through the book ,every body will be responsible and take action to end gender based violence in this contry because since we started a programme of sensitizing the community until now the numbers are still increasing and this worrying ,we remain asking ourselves what to do but because girls don’t move anywhere ,a book is something that everybody can read and feel the voices of victims ,”Said Ms .Odhiambo .
Ms Odhiambo blamed Kenyan courts for dragging cases on GBV .
“When cases take too long in court and action fail to be taken against perpetrators it demorolises victims of GBV and feel that there is no justice in court ,so many victims don’t report and the perpetrators gain power to continue with violation of women rights ,”Claimed Ms.Odhiambo .
She called upon Kenyan government to enforce policies and strategies to prevent and respond to gender violence .
“we have enough policies ,we are pushing county governments to come up with gender bills to assist at the grassroot levels but its not that all there must be that spirit of change ,so its not just policies that we need but the right spirits of fighting gender based violence ,”Appealed Ms Odhiambo
Under the sustainable development goals SDGs all countries ,including Kenya ,committed to end all forms of gender -based violence by 2030 .
To counter this alarming rise, UN Women offices around the world have partnered with tech giants like Google, Twitter and Facebook to provide important information about helpline services for domestic violence survivors.
This article is part of Awim ,unesco ,peace and security for women journalism program.
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