How Kenyans are Disappeared; #WakoWapi?
For two years, six-year-old Castrol Kinuthia placed his father’s sandals by the door in the evening, sits back on a couch and waited to see him walk in.
His father, lawyer Willie Kimani, had went missing on June 23, 2016 after attending court in Mavoko, only for their badly mutilated body to be recovered a week later. Four people among them police officers were found guilty of the murder.
This is but one of the cases where people have gone missing in Kenya without a trace, or their bodies recovered, hence the inception of Missing Voices Kenya.
August 30, every year, marks the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.
A number of organizations on a mission to end Enforced Disappearances (EDs) and Extra Judicial Killings (EJKs) in Kenya came together to create Missing Voices.
Missing Voices documents incidences of EDs and EJKs, and enhances justice for victims through submitting cases to oversight authorities, and its members to institute cases in court.
The culture of impunity within the National Police Service (NPS) and delayed justice within the criminal justice system leads to the majority of victims and survivors not receiving economical, judicial and psychological justice.
Despite Kenya having a progressive Constitution and numerous pieces of legislation to ensure that police officers discharge their duties with due regard to human rights and respect for the rule of law, acts of EDs and EJKs are still rampant.
Further, the Coalition notes that although Kenya has signed the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, it is yet to ratify it. The Convention criminalizes the act of EDs and classifies it as a crime against humanity.
The Coalition is concerned that the State continues to perpetuate crimes against international law and condones the violation of human rights hence hampering the fight against EDs and EJKs.
The Coalition notes that EDs and EJKs are grave human rights violations which deny victims basic human rights such as freedom from torture, legal representation, the presumption of innocence, fair trial and equal protection under the law and Kenya’s Constitution.
Sign this petition to demand that:
1. Parliament to allocate funding to the Attorney General’s office to allow the implementation of the National Coroner’s Service Act 2017
2. Government of Kenya to create national laws that criminalize Enforced Disappearances
3. Government of Kenya to ratify, without any reservations, the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
4. Prosecution of persons found responsible for Enforced Disappearances and Extrajudicial killings
5. Government of Kenya to provide reparations including monetary compensation for damages caused to victims, medical and psychological care and rehabilitation for any form of physical or mental damage, as well as a legal and social rehabilitation
