Gov't pays Ksh.16M compensation to 4 survivors of post-election sexual violence

The government has paid Ksh.16 million in compensation to four survivors of sexual violence from the 2007/08 post-election crisis, marking the first time the State has financially redressed victims of conflict-related sexual violence. 

In a joint statement published on Friday, human rights groups comprising the Coalition on Violence against Women (COVAW), Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU), Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), Utu Wetu Trust, Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), International Commission of Jurists (ICJ Kenya), REDRESS Trust, the Constitution Reform Education Consortium (CRECO) and The Global Survivors Fund lauded the move. 

According to the human rights groups, the payment, made more than 13 years after the survivors filed Petition 122 of 2013 in the High Court, and nearly five years since the court delivered a landmark judgment in December 2020, represented a significant milestone in the country’s human rights journey.

“This moment is not just about financial redress. It is about recognition, healing, and setting a precedent,” said a joint statement by the survivors and their legal team.

Despite only covering the principal award, the compensation was issued to four of the eight petitioners. 

This is after the 2020 judgment found the government liable for failing to prevent and investigate the abuse suffered by three survivors at the hands of State security agents, and one who reported the assault but received no action from the police.

The petitioners argued that the State’s failure to protect them violated their constitutional rights, and the court agreed in four of the eight cases.

One of the survivors expressed emotional relief after the payment was made.

“I thought I would die before receiving my court-ordered compensation! Many thanks to the Government of Kenya for humanizing me and for hearing our cry,” she said.

The remaining four survivors were not compensated by the High Court, as their attacks were committed by non-State actors.

Their legal team, however, filed an appeal in Civil Appeal Case E645 of 2021, arguing that the State still bore responsibility for failing to prevent and respond to the violence, regardless of who perpetrated it.

The rights groups indicated that the appeal is still pending, with the judgment having been postponed twice. 

“We will remain with the survivors until all pending interest is paid. We will remain with them until the appeal judgment is delivered and the excluded survivors are compensated,” the joint statement read.

The human rights advocates are now calling on the government to adopt structural reforms including a national reparations policy, operationalization of the Restorative Justice Fund, implementation of the Victim Protection Act, and comprehensive compensation for survivors of political and sexual violence from other periods.

“These women carried this fight for years, spoke out when silence felt safer, and returned to courtrooms again and again,” said one rights advocate. “Their courage has lit the way forward for other survivors.”

As the appeal process continues, survivor groups and legal activists say they will not relent until all voices are heard, and all wounds acknowledged; financially, legally, and morally.