Human Rights Defenders continue to work to promote individual human rights. Many at times, this work presents risks to the defenders as they lack support and face many threats while at work.

Each year Kenya joins the rest of the world to commemorate International Human Rights Days like the International Women Human Rights Day on 29th November and the International Human Rights Defenders Day on 14th December.

This year during the week leading up to the International Human Rights Day, Defenders Coalition hosted a one week forum to bring together 110 Human Rights

Defenders (HRDs) country wide in an intensive Academy to be trained on matters of Security Management, Monitoring Documentation and Reporting of Human Rights and their Socio Economic well-being.

During the International Women Human Rights Day, an additional 100 women leaders joined Defenders Coalition to celebrate and pay tribute to women who have lost their lives while advocating and championing for social justice and women empowerment. Defenders Coalition strongly encourages CSOs, and the government to work with Human Rights Defenders because they help to advance civic space, rights and freedoms.

It is a concern that as women human rights defenders continue to stand up for human rights, they face obstacles including systematic discrimination, stigmatization, assault, threats, and violence and inequality within their communities as well as eventual exclusion from resources and power or even worse they lose their lives. In 2017, Eva Ayiera Maina a WHRD mysteriously passed on in her house. Esther Mwikali another WHRD was found dead on 28th August 2018 after a forced disappearance, and Carol Mwatha a vocal human rights activist from Dandora Community Justice Centre was also found dead in 2019 under unclear circumstances.

Defenders Coalition strongly condemns the continued threats and deaths directed at the Women Defenders as they advocate for their own rights and those at the margins of the society. We encourage the government and judiciary to conduct their duty of protecting and upholding human rights and ensuring justice prevails for all victims of human rights violations.