Kenya – Joint Submission to the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women on the Femicide Watch Initiative

This brief was submitted to the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women to promote evidence-based policies and strategies for the prevention of femicide, through the collection of comparable data on femicide rates at the national, regional, and global level, in response to the call for submissions “Taking stock of the Femicide Watch Initiative” by:

• Equality Now, an international human rights organization with ECOSOC status working to protect and promote the rights of women and girls worldwide since 1992, including through our membership network of individuals and organizations in over 190 countries.
• Young Women’s Leadership Institute, a feminist center of excellence founded in 1999 for nurturing the leadership of adolescent girls and young feminists. YWLI provides spaces and opportunities for adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) to engage in setting their own agenda and in determining how the world around them should change.
• Counting Dead Women (CDW), a Facebook page created by activist women to count the reported number of Kenyan girls and women who have been killed through violence. This was a response to the increased cases of Femicide in the country. CDW Kenya observes the deaths of women and girls in Kenya. CDW gives information on the arrests conducted after a femicide-related death.
• Akili Dada, an international award-winning leadership incubator with a mission to nurture transformative leadership in girls and young women from underserved backgrounds to meet the urgent need for more African women in leadership.