Defenders Coalition 2022 Election Report

Kenya is slated to hold its General Elections on Tuesday the 9th day of August 2022 for the 3rd time under the constitution of Kenya 2010. It’s important that the lessons learnt in previous general elections as documented in the Defenders Coalitions monitoring reports and other related reports by election stakeholders are fully incorporated in furtherance of a democracy in Kenya.

The legal framework on the Bill of Rights and specifically political rights as provided for under Article 38 our constitution and key legislation that govern election processes all enacted in a quest to attain electoral reforms that ensure a free, fair and credible election that reflects the highest aspirations of the Kenyan people.

It’s against this backdrop that Defenders Coalition, a key stakeholder in elections has capacity built and strengthened grassroot HRDs with advanced skills on Election Monitoring, Documentation and Reporting on human rights violations pre, during and post election period.

In order to ensure that the election process reflects the true wishes of Kenyans in the upcoming 2022 general election, Defenders Coalition deployed HRD monitors to monitor and document the electoral process and working environment of the HRDs.

We can proudly highlight the following key milestones made during the last one year of monitoring:

1. Revamped a phone based application monitoring tool (Mtetezi) used by monitors to document human rights violations that enhanced quick, timely rapid response to any such violations.

2. Defenders Coalition has trained over 300 HRDs and over 20 Organizations on Digital Security and Physical Security, and monitoring, documentation and reporting.

3. Defenders Coalition successfully mobilized critical partners to jointly engage in advocacy over pressing human rights issues in Kenya.

4. The presence of Defenders Coalition as the spokesperson for HRDs served to denounce and resist harmful actions on the environment of HRDs, and uses advocacy as a key tool for enhancing accountability for electoral related human rights violations.

5. Defenders Coalition innovatively responded to humanitarian and resilience needs of HRDs and CSO organizations.

6. Defenders Coalition through collaboration pathways with partner organizations have ramped up multiple coordinated interventions and strategies to expand freedom of information and transparency. The information is designed to identify malpractices and raise the quality of political contests so that they meet human right standards and principles.