Kenya’s laws against gender-based violence (GBV) are among the strongest in Africa. Over the past two decades, we have ratified CEDAW and the Maputo Protocol, passed the Sexual Offenses Act and the Protection Against Domestic Violence Act, and increased sentencing for perpetrators. Yet, the crisis of GBV is only growing, with devastating consequences.
Between 2020 and 2025, more than 650 Kenyan women were killed in femicide cases, according to reports from FIDA Kenya, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, and grassroots monitoring groups. In 2024 and 2025, the #EndFemicideKE protests mobilized tens of thousands in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, and Eldoret, demanding government action after a surge of high-profile murders. Yet, behind these headlines are thousands more survivors, women, girls, migrants, people with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups who face violence daily, often at the hands of those closest to them. Data from the National Crime Research Centre shows that cases of GBV reported to police rose by 48% between 2020 and 2025. Only about 15% of reported cases result in convictions, and most survivors never see their cases go to trial. These numbers point to a system that is failing to deliver real safety for those at risk.
Why, after all this lawmaking and policing, is safety still out of reach for so many?
The answer is clear: punishment alone cannot end gender-based violence. Kenya’s experience shows that arrests and prison sentences, while important for accountability, do not address the root causes of violence, nor do they guarantee healing or safety for survivors.
Survivors who report violence face daunting obstacles. Court cases can drag on for years, evidence is lost, and the process itself is often retraumatizing. For many vulnerable and marginalized communities, the risks are even higher. Seeking help can mean further marginalization, discrimination, or even arrest. People with disabilities encounter inaccessible and dismissive systems. The promise of justice too often becomes another site of pain.
Online, survivors who speak out face harassment, doxxing, and public blame. Social media has made violence more visible, but it has also exposed survivors to new forms of attack. The state’s primary response is more police and more prisons, despite mounting evidence that these strategies do not work.
The Justice Beyond Jails campaign, led by Just Futures Collaborative and partners, calls for a radical rethinking of what justice means. True safety cannot be achieved by carceral systems alone. We must invest in the community-led solutions already saving lives across Kenya: emergency housing for survivors, mutual aid, trauma support, community accountability, legal aid, reproductive healthcare, and economic empowerment.
These grassroots efforts, often led by women’s rights, disability advocacy, and community organizations, receive a fraction of the funding poured into policing and prisons. Yet, for many survivors, they are the only sources of safety, dignity, and healing.
The GBV crisis in Kenya is not caused by a lack of laws. It is caused by deep-seated inequality, poverty, misogyny, queerphobia, and the failure to invest in the systems that make safety possible before violence occurs. As recent protests have shown, many Kenyans no longer trust punitive institutions, especially when those same institutions use force against peaceful demonstrators.
It is time to move beyond the illusion that harsher punishment equals justice. Kenya must shift resources away from prisons and into communities, funding the solutions that work, supporting those most at risk, and building accountability that heals rather than harms.
The Author is the Communications Lead, Just Futures Collaborative