Kenyan Elections: the crucial role of human rights defenders
Ahead of the 2022 Kenyan general elections on 9 August, PBI Kenya has been working with human rights defenders and Social Justice Centres to ensure they can work in safety during the elections period.
PBI accompanies the #SabaSabaMarchForOurLives
Election times have historically been among the most tense and violent periods in Kenya’s modern history. In 2007, election Commission changes, fraud, a distrust of courts, ethnic and neighbourhood divides, and media biases created a powder keg that left at least 1,100 people dead and 650,000 displaced once the elections were done.
The ethnic and state-led violence that followed the 2007 election catalysed an economic downturn and entrenched social fragmentation which continues fifteen years later.
Free, fair and peaceful elections are a cornerstone of democracy, and of vital importance to the Kenyan people. Long-term work by Kenyan human rights and peacebuilding organisations, with the support of PBI, has helped to ensure that the level of violence seen in 2007 has not been repeated. But the Kenyan electoral landscape continues to be characterised by intimidation and a lack of transparency, with human rights defenders subject to threats and violence when monitoring and reporting on electoral processes. During the last election in 2017, Human Rights Watch documented over 100 opposition supporters unlawfully killed by police and armed groups allied to the government. Journalists and human rights defenders were further barred from campaign meetings, accused of influencing election outcomes and subjected to brutality and intimidation.
Assessing and establishing safety and protection polices and protocols
As political tensions rise again ahead of next month’s elections, the work of human rights defenders and Social Justice Centres has never been more important and must be supported if the campaign for peaceful elections is to be a success. Key to this peace will be the relationships built between the police and the public, something that PBI’s partners have been working on for the past seven years. With the support of PBI, human rights defenders and the Social Justice Centre movement are successfully campaigning to eradicate state violence and discrimination, leaving relationships improved across the divides.
Over the past few weeks, PBI has worked with Mombasa, Kilifi County, and Ruaraka Social Justice Centres, and communities in Kibera, Mathare, Kawangware, Langata, and Mukuru. Results include the development of security and protection plans, violence response strategies, and the establishment of peaceful zones, as well as relationship and trust-building exercises that will contribute to the ongoing safety of defenders during and beyond the elections.
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