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Report: Most femicide cases happen at home
According to the report, over 70 per cent of cases of femicide took place within the women's homes.
What you need to know:
- Report highlighted that 77 per cent of all murders of women were executed by people the victim may have known intimately.
- Over 70 percent of these slaughters took place within the confines of walls meant to protect the women – their homes.
Amidst a dark cloud of escalating gender-based violence and a nationwide outcry over the killings of both women and children, the Centre for Rights Education and Awareness (CREAW) has launched a troubling report.
The report highlighted that 77 per cent of all murders of women were executed by people the victim may have known intimately, loved or even trusted.
Husbands made up 40.15 per cent of the culprits, followed by boyfriends at 32 per cent. Shockingly, over 70 per cent of these slaughters took place within the confines of walls meant to protect the women – their homes.
This grim backdrop is further compounded by a high number of reported cases of missing children, according to Nairobi-based activist Mildred Ngesa.
She spoke during the launch of a new five-year strategic plan that pivots toward intensive, community-led behavioural change.
The curriculum aims to actively guide partners through communication, financial management, parenting, and conflict resolution to uproot violence at its source.
But the danger within the domestic sphere extends beyond intimate partners. A structural argument was put across to civil societies during the launch. Are femicide and child abduction both symptoms of a collapsed household protection architecture?
Some of the women and girls who have been murdered.
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."
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 per cent."
Steve Njuku, speaking on behalf of UN Women, noted that globally nearly one in three women experience physical or sexual violence, while in Kenya, the 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey shows approximately 41 per cent of women aged 15-49 have experienced physical violence.
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