Gender-based violence on increase, State urged to protect victims

Rights groups have urged the government to help women experiencing violence. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The housewife has put up with the violence since he is the breadwinner.
  • Neighbours say fighting between the two has been the order of the day.

Today marks the eighth day since Winnie moved in with a family she hardly knows.

She tries to smile and take part in conversations. With her three children aged three to seven, they squeeze into a sofa.

The youngest sits on her lap, while the two lean on her shoulders. It is not because the moderate living room lacks sitting space. There are two extra seats, including a three-seater. The children look insecure and cling to their mother.

Winnie’s look is blank. She has a red eye and a huge scar on the left side of her face that appears to be healing.

She wears braids but there is a soft patch in the middle of her head that has no hair. Winnie attempts to hide it with a light loose scarf.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

The woman is a victim of domestic violence. She says her husband of nine years has had the habit of slapping her when he loses his cool “once in a while.” The last three weeks have been hell.

“He has become irritable and beats me even without being provoked,’’ she said.

The housewife has put up with the violence since he is the breadwinner.

It was different this time. Winnie had just lost a three month pregnancy through a miscarriage. It appeared to have angered him the more.

He beat her so badly one evening, pulling her hair and throwing her and the children out into the cold, the curfew notwithstanding.

A Good Samaritan gave them temporary shelter.

CURFEW
Winnie says her husband became more violent after the mandatory containment measures, including the dawn-to dusk curfew, were announced to stop the spread of Covid-19.

Her 36-year-old husband is a clerk at a private firm in Nairobi. He and colleagues have been made to take unpaid leave and salary cuts.

In another part of Nairobi, a young woman is in custody for stabbing her husband to death a week ago.

Neighbours say fighting between the two has been the order of the day.

Apparently, their relationship was strained as a result of financial woes, said a community leader in the slum who did not want to be named.

A surge in violence, especially against women and girls as well as children, has been recorded since governments imposed restrictions on movement and other Covid-19 containment measures.

FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) says millions of cases of gender based violence, including child marriages and female genital mutilation, can be attributed to the disruptions.

Lockdowns have contributed to economic hardships. This, in addition to poor stress management, are likely to create a fertile ground for violence.

Confinement at home, uncertainty and fear can produce stressful environments that precipitate violence, UN representatives in Kenya say.

Data released by the Director of Public Prosecutions early last month indicate that 41.1 per cent of cases filed in court were sexual offences — the highest since March 16.
Public Service and Gender Cabinet Secretary Margaret Kobia says the cases rose by 33.72 in March. Women and girls were the main victims, with 106 reported cases compared to 86 in February. Reported too were nine cases of violence against men and boys.

PROTECT WOMEN AND GIRLS

Rights groups are calling for concrete and urgent action from the government to protect women and girls.

Centre for Rights Education and Awareness (CREAW), FIDA-Kenya, Coalition on Violence Against Women (COVAW), Equality Now, GROOTS Kenya, SDGs Forum Kenya and Kenya Female Advisory Organisation addressed their concerns in petitions to Cabinet Secretaries in key ministries, departments and representatives of UN agencies in Kenya.

Limited access to service providers like hospitals, police and courts due to social distancing and curfew have hampered redress to victims, the noted.

They observed that the current health crisis has magnified the violence and inequality against the most vulnerable in society.

SAFE HOUSES

Key among these priorities is the establishment of shelters and safe houses for victims.

“The most effective way of dealing with violence is moving the victim to safety,” Covaw executive director Wairimu Munyinyi-Wahome said.

“Gender-based violence redress systems and structures are best implemented as development strategies so that when pressure to respond piles up during an emergency, there is a foundation of support.”

CREAW Kenya executive director Leah Wangechi says Kenya should learn best practices from countries going through similar crises.

She cites France, which has resorted to sheltering victims at select hotels.

“Ethiopia has speeded up domestic violence cases while France has turned hotels into shelters,” she said.