Kenya

GENEVA (17 February 2014) – A group of United Nations human rights experts today urged Kenya to repeal sections of the Marriage and Property Act which effectively deny women the right to marital property upon divorce or death of their spouse, unless they can prove they made a contribution to the acquisition of the property during their marriage.

“It is expected that very few women will be able to demonstrate such a contribution under the new provisions, since few Kenyan women have land title deeds in their own names and even less hold deeds jointly with men,” warned independent expert Frances Raday, who currently heads the UN Working Group on discrimination against women in law and practice.

By Sally Chiwama

WOMEN from all over African and human rights organisations recently protested in the streets of Nairobi to press for the arrest and prosecution of six suspects who allegedly gang-raped a 16-year-old girl and later dumped her in a pit latrine.

The women who were mobilized by the Coalition on Violence Against Women (COVAW), UniTE for African Women and the African Women’s Development and Communications Network (FEMNET) walked from Uhuru Park to the office of the Inspector General of Police at Jogoo House and presented a petition that was signed by more than 1,200,000 people globally.

Equality Now has been monitoring multiple cases of Kenyan girls running away from their homes or avoiding going home from school during holidays to escape female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriage, particularly during the August and December school holidays when mass mutilations are performed. The Pokot region, especially, has had a high number of reports of girls running away from home or refusing to return home from school. Despite the existence of Kenyan laws against FGM and child marriage, it is clear that they are not being implemented in the region to protect girls.

Countries across Africa are experiencing unprecedented urban growth, presenting women with greater economic and social opportunities as well as greater risks to their safety and welfare. According to UN-HABITAT, “notable gender gaps in labour and employment, decent work, pay, tenure rights, access to and accumulation of assets, personal security and safety, and representation in formal structures of urban governance show that women are often the last to benefit from the prosperity of cities.”