Several hundred people demonstrated in Nairobi on Saturday January 27 against the murder of women in Kenya, outraged by the deaths of more than 15 women since the beginning of the year.
Demonstrators took to the streets of the capital, holding up placards reading “Being a woman should not be a death sentence” and “Patriarchy kills”. Others carried the names and photos of the victims.
The group chanted “Stop killing us” as they marched towards Parliament, bringing traffic to a standstill in Nairobi’s central business district. According to media reports, at least 16 women have been killed in Kenya this year. Although unrelated, these murders have highlighted violence against women, “on the rise” according to the government.
In one of the cases that marked the country, a 26-year-old woman was killed on January 4 in a short-term rental apartment, by a suspected member of a gang of extortionists who target women through dating sites, according to police. Around two weeks later, a 20-year-old woman was strangled, dismembered and her remains placed in a plastic bag. Two men have been taken into custody in the case, but have not yet been charged.
“Feminicide is the most brutal manifestation of gender-based violence,” said the Kenyan section of Amnesty International in a statement issued on the occasion of the march. “It is unacceptable and must never be normalized,” the rights group added, calling on the authorities to speed up investigations and prosecutions of the perpetrators.
At the protest, Terry Wangare, a communications officer, said it was “time for Kenya to stand up and make a decision”. “Nobody cares”.