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{
    "id": 1371878,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1371878/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 245,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Crystal Asige",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "more that ironic that the origin of this day is shrouded in violence against women and centuries later on, this day, this reality has not changed a bit. We are still battling systematic hate crimes against women. Mr. Temporary Speaker, let us be very intentional and set the records straight that Gender Based Violence (GBV) takes many forms, including sexual, domestic and emotional. Unfortunately, the statistics are frightening. Reports found that over 40 per cent of women in Kenya experienced intimate partner violence. In 2020 alone, the Ministry of Public Service and Gender had recorded 5,009 cases through the national helpline. Further, in the first two weeks of the Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic, Health Assistance Kenya (HAK) recorded a 300 per cent increase in calls made to their hotline to report cases of violence against women because we were stuck in an indefinite lockdown with our perpetrators. One can only guess how many went unreported. Between January, 2016 and December, 2023, Kenya witnessed over 500 cases of femicide with intimate partners, including femicide against women with disabilities. Close to two-thirds of the perpetrators were either currently or had previously been in intimate relationship with the victims, with the husbands and boyfriends being the most common culprits. Data analysis reveals that women aged 18 to 40 comprise the largest demographic of femicide victims in Kenya. Additionally, in last year’s United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), reports of 40 cases of Gender Based Violence (GBV) in Kenya were amongst the highest in the world. It is not a good thing to be rated or ranked first. Throughout January and February, the nation has been seized by case after case of brutal murders of women under different scenarios. Right on the heels at least 10 cases of femicide were reported in 2023. This is an alarming and stressing trend that shows the ugly underbelly of our nation and underscores the dangers that women face every single day. Even more alarming is the fact that recent events are neither novel nor isolated. We still remember the deaths of Ivy Wangechi, a medical student who was hacked to death in broad daylight; Sharon Otieno, a young mother and student who was gang raped and stabbed while seven months pregnant; Elizabeth Ekaru, a Head of State Commendation (HSC) recipient for her exemplary work as a human rights defender who was attending a burial when she was lured away by a man who stabbed her severally to death; Agnes Tirop, a world record holder athlete who was murdered by her husband a few days after she turned 26 years; and Agnes Wanjiru, a young lady who was murdered by British soldiers from the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) in Nanyuki whose leaked to WhatsApp videos allegedly showed them further mocking her death. These women are only a representative of countless women who have lost their lives to violence by men over the years right under our noses. The trend is that these cases capture the imagination of the nation for a few days then slowly fade with most perpetrators not being apprehended, charged or prosecuted at all. The legal processes found that once a perpetrator has been arrested and brought to court, it takes an average of 1,900 days for a case to be concluded and the suspect to be"
}