Premium
Kenya’s femicide crisis: Most women killed by husbands, boyfriends
Anti-GBV banners are displayed ahead of the flagging off of cars for a digital campaign at the Teleposta Huduma Centre along Kenyatta Avenue, Nairobi,on June 9, 2025.
Amidst a dark cloud of escalating gender-based violence and a nationwide outcry over the killings of women and children, the Centre for Rights Education and Awareness (CREAW) has published a disturbing report.
The report revealed that 77 per cent of murders of women were carried out by people with whom the victim may have had an intimate relationship, or who they may have loved or trusted. Husbands accounted for 40.15 per cent of the perpetrators, followed by boyfriends at 32 per cent. Shockingly, over 70 per cent of these murders took place in the homes of the victims.
Stakeholders at the launch of the Centre for Rights Education and Awareness (CREAW) Strategic Plan 2026–2030.
According to Nairobi-based activist Mildred Ngesa, this grim backdrop is further compounded by a high number of reported cases of missing children.
She spoke at the launch of a new five-year strategic plan focusing on intensive, community-led behavioural change. The curriculum aims to guide partners through communication, financial management, parenting and conflict resolution, in order to eradicate violence at its source.
However, the danger within the domestic sphere extends beyond intimate partners.
Anti-GBV banners are displayed ahead of the flagging off of cars for a digital campaign at the Teleposta Huduma Centre along Kenyatta Avenue, Nairobi,on June 9, 2025.
A structural argument was presented to civil society at the launch. Are femicide and child abduction both symptoms of a collapsed household protection architecture?
Angelina Cikanda, CREAW’s partnership leader, frames this as a systemic failure. She pointed to a fundamental breakdown in the family unit.
"If children are missing, where are their parents? There are issues at the household level that need to be addressed,” Ms Cikanda said. “If we collect children’s bodies and claim all is okay, there is a problem. We need to identify the people perpetrating the violence, look at the family setting, and establish the vulnerability areas."
Stakeholders at the launch of the Centre for Rights Education and Awareness (CREAW) Strategic Plan 2026–2030.
The CREAW model has been tested elsewhere.
"Currently the programme is in its pilot phase within two counties, but in time, it will be scaled countrywide,” Ms Cikanda said. “We have seen its success in Rwanda, where it was able to reduce domestic violence by 52 percent."
Speaking on behalf of UN Women, Steve Njuku noted that, globally, nearly one in three women experience physical or sexual violence. In Kenya, the 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey shows that approximately 41 per cent of women aged 15–49 have experienced physical violence.
