Kenyan women assaulted and raped during election

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Several Kenyan women said they were attacked and raped by police officers during this year’s election season, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday.

The sexual attacks, mostly on women, occurred over this period in two opposition strongholds - Kisumu and Bungoma, and in some of Nairobi’s slums in western Kenya, HRW reported.

Kenyan police dispute rights groups’ allegations that officers used excessive force to quell election-related unrest. They did not respond to a request from Reuters for comment on the report.

One 28-year-old woman in the Nairobi slum of Mathare said that: “Four men in police uniforms burst into my home and my children were sleeping, they pulled my husband out. One grabbed my neck, the other pulled off my clothes, another beat me with a stick, and the other forced sex on me.”

Residents flee as anti-riot policemen pursue opposition protesters in Mathare, Nairobi, on August 12. /Reuters Photo

The woman who declined to be identified said she was four months pregnant and miscarried shortly after the rape. “I was bleeding and confused afterwards,” she said.

Another woman, aged 26, said: “Two men dragged me away from my friend, stripped off my clothes and one raped me as another one held me down.”

“Kenyan women who have been raped – they are lonely and abandoned and ashamed,” said HRW researcher Agnes Odhiambo. “It’s the Kenyan government who should feel shame for failing to protect them and help them get medical treatment.”

Kenyan rights groups accuse police of brutality and extrajudicial killings.

A government civilian watchdog tasked was to oversee the policemen, but few officers are charged and convictions are extremely rare.

The sexual violence mirrored widespread violations against women after a disputed 2007 vote when 1,200 people were killed, HRW said. At the time, the group documented at least 900 cases of sexual violence but said this was likely an underestimate.

People fall as police officer fires tear gas to try control a crowd trying to force their way into a stadium to attend the inauguration of President Uhuru Kenyatta at Kasarani Stadium in Nairobi, Kenya November 28, 2017. /VCG Photo

“The new cases related to the August and October 2017 elections demonstrate a disturbing continuum,” Tina Alai, a lawyer with New York-based Physicians for Human Rights.

“Police have continued to perpetrate sexual violence against civilians they are obligated to protect,” she said.

More than 70 people were killed in an election in August.

The results of the elections were later nullified by the Supreme Court citing irregularities, calling for a rerun on October 26, which was won by President Uhuru Kenyatta.