Kenyans have been experiencing a worse human rights situation over the past year, a global lobby group has revealed in its latest report.
Human Rights Watch observed that last year the authorities restricted the right to peaceful protest in heavy-handed crackdowns against nationwide protests over the high cost of living.
“The authorities failed to address the socio-economic causes of protests and, instead, harassed, intimidated, and arrested protest leaders, activists, and civil society groups accused of supporting the protests,” said Human Rights Watch’s World Report 2025.
“President William Ruto publicly threatened the courts for making decisions unfavorable to his administration. The authorities have rarely investigated or prosecuted law enforcement officers implicated in human rights abuses.”
At the same time, violence against women and girls, including high femicide rates, remains prevalent in Kenya, the lobby said.
Furthermore, the report that is released annually and recaps the events of the previous year, observed that 15 per cent of women and girls have been subjected to Female Genital Mutilation and 13 per cent of girls are married by the age of 18 years.
And, 83 per cent of women and girls are subjected to at least one form of obstetric violence during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period, the report said.
Reflecting on the events of the past year, Human Rights Watch Executive Director Tirana Hassan said, “many governments have failed the test,” highlighting widespread challenges to human rights, democracy, and humanitarian principles.
“This has been a year of elections, resistance, and conflict, testing the integrity of democratic institutions and the principles of international human rights and humanitarian law. Whether in response to heightened repression in Russia, India, and Venezuela, or catastrophic armed conflicts in Gaza, Sudan, and Ukraine, governments around the world are being called upon to demonstrate their commitment to human rights, democracy, and humanitarian action,” said the executive director, adding that “even outspoken and action-oriented governments have invoked human rights standards weakly or inconsistently, feeding global perceptions that human rights lack legitimacy”.
From June last year, Kenya faced intense street protests that continued through August. The youth-led pro-reforms demonstrations were sparked by proposed tax hikes, triggering the worst crisis since Dr Ruto took power in 2022.
The protests organised largely by Kenyans between the ages of 18 and 35 reached their peak with the invasion of parliament on June 25.
Protesters opposed taxes on goods and services such as bread, menstrual products, and mobile money transfers used by many informal workers.
Protest anger evolved to include government waste and corruption and the worsening neglect of public services. While large-scale rallies have mostly stopped, anger against the government has simmered, fuelled by a cost-of-living crisis and continued allegations of brutality by the security forces.
“Police shot directly into crowds, killing protesters and bystanders. The authorities have continued to track down people believed to be protest leaders or one of the estimated 3,000 protesters involved in the parliament invasion. Several of these people have either been arrested or abducted by suspected security agents then forcefully disappeared,” said the report.
Bodies of people showing signs of torture continued to turn up in rivers, forests, abandoned quarries, and mortuaries. And, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) said that police had killed at least 60 protesters and abducted another 66 people.
However, the rights body said, the authorities have yet to investigate or prosecute anyone for these crimes, adding that “Kenya has a history of police brutality and lack of accountability for serious abuses by security forces”.
As in 2024, the country also experienced protests in 2023 in response to tax proposals in the Finance Bill 2023.
But President Ruto signed the 2023 Finance Bill into law despite a parliamentary report showing more than 90 per cent of Kenyans opposed it, “and was similarly set to sign the 2024 bill despite strong opposition,” the lobby said.
The tax bills come in the context of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme that initiated economic measures which increased the cost of living and undermined human rights.
On the disobedience of court orders and threats to judges, Human Rights Watch said, government officials, including the president, publicly threatened people who filed court petitions to challenge the 2023 Finance Bill and 2023 housing levy.
The global report further said that President Ruto accused the petitioners and “corrupt courts” of sabotaging his government.
