A new report on alleged police killings in Kenya has revealed that the number of extrajudicial victims decreased in the year 2023 as compared to 2022.
The report released by the Missing Voices on April 24, 2024, revealed that the number of victims in the alleged extra-judicial killings decreased from 130 in 2022 to 118 last year.
“As this report shows, the number of those killed extra- judicially reduced by 9.2%, from 130 in 2022, to 118 in 2023, while enforced disappearances reduced from 22 in 2022 to 10 in 2023, a 54.5% decrease,” read part of the report.
The organization through its annual report further stated that the number of victims of enforced disappearances also decreased by 12 last year, from 22 in 2022.
According to the report, some of the other parameters, for instance, gender, age and manner of death, however, did not change.
Police Killings
Men were classified as the most affected from police impunity, with the report stating that the proportion of men killed in 2023 remained high, at 94% of all victims, compared to 95.3% in 2022.
The proportion of women victims recorded a slight increase to 6% as compared to 4.7% in 2022.
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Missing Voices attributed the decrease in the killings to documentation and advocacy processes taken against them, among other factors.
“Whereas attribution is difficult in a situation in which there are many other actors, both state and non-state, MVC’s monitoring, documentation and advocacy processes against extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances made a contribution to the reduction,” the report adds.
However, in their report, the Human Rights Activists highlighted that even though there was a decrease in the number of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, a significant number of Kenyans were still victimized and denied their right to live.
Ruto Declaration on Extrajudicial Killings
This report was released days after President William Ruto declared that there shall never be extrajudicial killings or political assassinations in the country.
Ruto made the declaration while speaking during the burial ceremony of the late Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces General Francis Ogolla at Senator Obama K’Ogello Primary School in Siaya County.
The Head of State acknowledged that many Kenyans have lost their lives because of extrajudicial killings.
“It’s true that we have lost many Kenyans because of extrajudicial killings. For the avoidance of doubt and without any fear of contradiction, there shall never be extrajudicial killings or political assassinations,” President assured.
“There shall never be another occasion where we have bodies of Kenyans in River Yala. Not under my watch,” he added.
According to the coalition’s survey, most of the killings occurred during anti-crime operations by state security agencies.
The report noted that these operations accounted for 58 deaths in 2023 compared to 91 the previous year.
Missing Voices Report
Among one of the major milestones in the 2022 report was the successful prosecution of the suspects linked to the killing of IJM-Kenya’s human rights lawyer Willie Kimani and two others.
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The convicts, three former police officers, were sentenced after being found guilty of killing Lawyer Kimani, his client, and a taxi driver on June 23, 2016.
Additionally, the second significant happening was the release of the report of the National Task Force on Police Reforms, chaired by former Chief Justice, David Maraga.
The Task Force was set up to identify the legal, policy. administrative, institutional, and operational constraints on effective service delivery by the National Police Service (NPS), the Kenya Prisons Service (KPS) and the National Youth Service (NYS).
It also reviewed the welfare and the terms and conditions of service for members of the three services. The report was presented to the Head of State on Thursday, November 16th, 2023, at State House, Nairobi.
Missing Voices is a coalition made up of human rights organizations that tracks cases of police excesses in the country.
The organizations include the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), Amnesty International, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), and the International Justice Mission-Kenya (IJM-Kenya).
Others are the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), Defenders Coalition, Protection International Kenya, the Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU), and Kituo cha Sheria, among others.
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