“Late reporting of sexual violence is a challenge to the police. Sometimes, a case is reported after months when the girl is already pregnant. Sometimes, the complainants drop the cases midway because it is costly”.
These were the sentiments of a police officer from Kabondo during a series of community dialogues convened by KELIN between 27th June to 6th July 2018. The dialogues, which were held in several constituencies within Homa Bay County, were aimed at opening up communication channels around reporting sexual violations. The dialogues were also aimed at addressing land and property rights violations, particularly disinheritance of vulnerable groups such as women and orphans. Participants included elders, widows, adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) and duty bearers in the community.
With financial support from Viiv Healthcare, the series of dialogues was necessitated by the increasing cases of sexual violations in the community and the low record of reported cases in health facilities and police stations.
Stigmatization from the community; severance of relationships with the perpetrators, who in most cases are close members of the family, and cost implications in seeking justice were the major reasons participants gave for not reporting sexual violations.
During the forums, KELIN linked the participants to various stakeholders in Homa Bay including national and county government offices where they were encouraged to reach out for services, report cases and seek justice. As a result, the participants committed to share the information from the forum, and educate their communities on the importance of reporting sexual violations. The participants were also enthusiastic about helping widows get their lands back.
This series of dialogues will be replicated in Kisumu County in August 2018.
To contribute to the discussions on this forum, follow KELIN on our social media platforms: Twitter: @KELINkenya using the hash tag: #breakingthebarriers; #communitydialogues; Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kelinkenya
For more information contact:
Naomi Monda
Mombasa Road, Somak building 4th Floor
P O Box 112 – 00202 KNH Nrb,
Tel: 020, 2515790 │Mobile: +254726 395 476
E-mail: nmonda@kelinkenya.org
Website: www.kelinkenya.org
