HUMAN “I Just Sit and Wait to Die” RIGHTS Reparations for Survivors of Kenya’s 2007-2008 Post-Election WATCH Sexual Violence “I Just Sit and Wait to Die” Reparations for Survivors of Kenya’s 2007-2008 Post-Election Sexual Violence Copyright © 2016 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 978-1-6231-33245 Cover design by Rafael Jimenez Human Rights Watch defends the rights of people worldwide. We scrupulously investigate abuses, expose the facts widely, and pressure those with power to respect rights and secure justice. Human Rights Watch is an independent, international organization that works as part of a vibrant movement to uphold human dignity and advance the cause of human rights for all. Human Rights Watch is an international organization with staff in more than 40 countries, and offices in Amsterdam, Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Goma, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Nairobi, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Tunis, Washington DC, and Zurich. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.hrw.or FEBRUARY 2016 ISBN 978-1-6231-33245 “I Just Sit and Wait to Die” Reparations for Survivors of Kenya’s 2007-2008 Post-Election Sexual Violence Map of Kenya ...................................................................................................................... i Summary and Key Recommendations ................................................................................. 1 Methodology .................................................................................................................... 21 I. Kenya’s Post-Election Violence, including Sexual Violence ................................... 23 Key Information about the 2007-2008 Post-Election Violence .................................................. 23 Prevalence and Patterns of Sexual Violence ............................................................................ 30 Broader Context of Impunity for Violence against Women and Girls in Kenya ........................... 33 II. Impact of Sexual Violence on Survivors and the Need for Reparations ................... 34 Physical and Mental Health Impacts ....................................................................................... 35 HIV and Other Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) ........................................................ 37 Traumatic Fistula .............................................................................................................. 39 Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Unsafe Abortion .................................................................. 40 Psychological Consequences ........................................................................................... 44 Social Consequences ............................................................................................................. 50 Stigma and Abandonment ................................................................................................ 50 Physical Violence and Verbal Abuse ................................................................................. 53 Educational and Economic Consequences .............................................................................. 55 III. Invisible Victims: Children Born From Rape ........................................................... 59 Stigma and Rejection .............................................................................................................. 59 Psychological and Physical Abuse .......................................................................................... 61 Birth Registration .................................................................................................................. 64 IV. Failure to Investigate and Prosecute Sexual Violence ............................................ 66 Impact of Stigma and Lack of Information on Reporting ........................................................... 67 Discriminatory Response by Health Care Workers ................................................................... 68 Protection Failures by the Police ............................................................................................. 70 Police as Perpetrators and Ineffective Witness Protection ........................................................ 72 Unclear Legal Framework to Sanction Conflict-Related Sexual Violence ................................... 74 Current Status of Justice Efforts ............................................................................................... 75 National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325 ................................................................................. 79 V. The Case for Reparations ...................................................................................... 80 Exclusion of Sexual Violence Survivors from Previous Compensation Schemes ....................... 82 Principles for a Credible Reparations Process ......................................................................... 84 The ICC and Reparations ........................................................................................................ 86 VI. Recommendations ................................................................................................ 88 To the Government of Kenya .................................................................................................. 88 To the Ministry of Health ........................................................................................................ 92 To the Inspector General of Police, Director of Public Prosecutions, and the Chief Justice ........ 92 To the National Police Service Commission ............................................................................. 93 To the Independent Policing Oversight Authority .................................................................... 94 To the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court .......................................... 94 To Kenya’s International Donors............................................................................................. 94 To the ICC Trust Fund for Victims ............................................................................................. 95 To the United Nations Secretary-General ................................................................................. 95 Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... 96 Map of Kenya I SummaRy anD REcommEnDatIonS HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | FEBRUARY Wairimu V., 65, was raped by a group of men at an IDP camp. Her husband blames her for the rape, and beats and verbally abuses her including in the presence of their children. She would like to leave her abusive husband but is worried that she will not be able to support herself. She has such severe pain in her leg, lower abdomen, and back that she has to take pain killers daily; she also has vaginal bleeding and hypertension. many sexual violence survivors are still in urgent need of medical treatment and psychosocial support. On January 25, 2008, during the explosion of post-election violence in Kenya, four men beat and brutally gang-raped Apiyo P., a 53-year-old mother of five. She told Human Rights Watch how the rape continues to affect her: I am not at peace, my body is not the same. If I am pressed, urine just comes out. I feel weak. Sometimes I have a dirty-smelly discharge coming from my vagina. I feel pain in my lower abdomen. I have serious back ache…. I don’t have money to go to a big hospital. I have so much shame. I feel hopeless. I just sit and wait to die. I have problems sleeping. Sometimes I can go to bed at 10 p.m., be up at 11:30 p.m., and not fall sleep again. I doze off a lot during the day. I think about the rape, my financial problems, and the death of my husband [in the violence]. I was running a clothes boutique business in Nakuru and I had good money. But now I have become a beggar. Sometimes I don’t have food. I don’t have any help from my family. I came here to my father-in-law’s home after the violence and he gave me a plot of land to build. My brothers-in-law didn’t want me. The land was registered in my brother-in-law’s name and he wants the land back. I need help with land and a house for my children. I am just here in the village and I don’t know how to reach the government to ask for help. all photos © 2015 Samer muscati/Human Rights Watch More than eight years since violence engulfed Kenya in the aftermath of the December 2007 election, survivors of rape and other sexual violence continue to experience significant physical and psychological trauma and socioe- conomic hardship, worsened by the Kenyan government’s failure to provide medical care, psychosocial support, monetary compensation, and other redress. The longer the government takes to assist women and girls the worse their situation becomes. However, renewed momentum around developing a reparations process offers the Kenyan government an opportunity to rectify these failures and ensure justice and redress for post-election sexual violence. The violence that erupted in Kenya between December 2007 and the end of February 2008 following a disputed presidential election included patterns of police use of excessive force against protestors as well as ethnic-based killings and reprisals by supporters aligned to both the ruling and opposition parties. It left at least 1,133 people dead and displaced more than 600,000 people.