Justice and Rule of Law

Missing Voices is a group of organizations whose mission is to end enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in Kenya. Missing Voices organises public campaigns to highlight extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances and puts the stories of victims and their families in the centre. Find out more on www.missingvoices.or.ke Their website provides current numbers of extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances and profiles of the victims and the circumstances under which their death or disappearance occurred.

‘Saba Saba - then and now’ documents the perspective of activists who participated in the struggles in the 1990s: their aspirations, their cause and the hurdles they encountered. How did they overcome those hurdles and at what risks did this come?

Then the film zooms in on the organizing going on today. What are the struggles, what is the response of the governments and how are human rights defenders supported? There are lessons learned from then and now.

2021 was a year of regenerating so much of what was lost, put on hold or forgotten the year before with the Covid-19 pandemic. Priorities and plans have shifted and PBI, along with so many other organisations, has been reflecting on and adjusting our work to ensure that the protection we provide to human rights defenders (HRDs) across the world remains relevant and responds to their urgent needs.

PBI Kenya, together with other PBI entities and the members of the Social Justice Centres Working Group held a virtual speaker tour between 20th November to 10th Dec 2021. The speaker tour addressed the following issues with the UN officials, foreign governments, international NGOs, and fellow HRDs from other countries: violations of freedom of peaceful assembly, extrajudicial killings, the 2022 general elections and the safety of HRDs.

With support from ProtectDefenders.eu, the Mulika Wabakaji Campaign Consortium launched the Mulika Wabakaji campaign. “Mulika Wabakaji” can be translated to ‘expose perpetrators of rape and defilement’. The campaign addresses the low conviction rate of perpetrators of rape and defilement and was initiated by the WHRD Toolkit Organisers.

Now, the Mulika Wabakaji Campaign Consortium consists of 25 like-minded partners who work in synergy. The campaign was launched on 8th December and is expected to run for a period of 3 years.

In September, we published a simplified handbook on the Sexual Offences Act, 2006. This handbook,

40 years ago, in 1981, a group of international activists came together to create a movement for peace, solidarity and non-violent action. While our core mission remains the same, we have adapted our tactics to ensure defenders are protected despite the rapidly changing global context and ever-evolving risks and threats they face. 40 years on, PBI remains convinced of the vital role HRDs play in strengthening democracy, upholding the rule of law, and protecting our shared environment. Together, through their protection, we can create a more peaceful and just world.

PBI Kenya began the year on a high note, by continuing to supporting the work of the HRDs of the Social Justice Centres in Kenya through a new project titled ‘Raising the voice, visibility and effectiveness of the human rights movement in Kenya’. This follows after the successful completion of the pilot project ‘Increased capacities, stronger networks’. Both are supported with German Federal Foreign Office’s funds by ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen), Funding Programme zivik.

During November and December PBI organised a ‘Virtual Speaker Tour’, comprising of webinars, media engagement and meetings with the international community. The virtual nature of the Speaker Tour was necessitated by the global Covid-19 pandemic, which made international travel problematic.

The Police Reforms Working Group Kenya, an alliance of national and grassroots organisations committed to professional and rule of law policing, has issued a statement with its initial response to the Building Bridges Initiative implementation road map, that was launched on October 26.