In October 2016, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (OBS), an advocacy partnership between the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), conducted an international fact-finding mission to assess the deteriorating environment for human rights defenders in Kenya. The report, “2017 Elections: Broken Promises Put Human…
On November 3, 2016, Kenyan authorities led a “violent clampdown” on peaceful, anti-corruption protestors in Nairobi, Kenya. Around 200 Kenyan protesters gathered to speak out against alleged corruption within the country’s Ministry of Health, which was recently accused of misusing public funds. Demonstrators called upon the President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, to resign or take…
On June 30, 2016, Willie Kimani, a Nairobi human rights lawyer, his client Josephat Mwenda, and taxi driver Joseph Muiruri, were found dead in the Ol-Donyo Sabuk River in Eastern Kenya. Kimani had been representing Mwenda in a case against a police officer who accidentally shot him in the arm in 2015. Since filing criminal…