STATUS REPORT ON THE SITUATION OF WOMEN HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS IN KENYA DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC 2020

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For someone to be regarded as a human right defender (HRD), these individual acts to address any human right issue. They champion rights in their daily acts of service and stand for the respect constitution and other relevant laws. The declaration on human rights defenders acknowledges HRDs as people who, individually or with others, act to promote or protect human rights.
HRDs face numerous challenges in the course of their work directly as a result of their work and/or during the course of their work. These challenges are often gendered with Women Human Rights Defenders bearing the brunt of these due to cultural norms and societal structures.

Women have important roles to perform within the society. Roles that cut across various spheres of society including social, political, economic, cultural and religious. For this, women are often regarded as pillars of any given society. With family being regarded as the foundation of the society, women’s role as caregivers and homemakers is often emphasized on this front. This means that everything else a woman does; she carries the responsibilities of her home along.

It is often noted that at the break of a calamity, it is the woman who suffers most. Such has been the case with the Covid-19 pandemic that almost brought the world to its knees.

It is in this regard that Defenders Coalition undertook a survey to assess the situation of women human rights defenders (WHRDs) during the Covid-19 pandemic and appreciate their resilience at the face of a global pandemic yet still defending and promoting human rights.
The survey aimed to;
1. Highlight the resilience and innovation of WHRDs
2. Examine the role and expectations of and for WHRDs within a society
3. Identify partners and existing mechanisms that support the work of WHRDs

From the exercise, the role of WHRDs in the society was identified as a difficult one and often regarded as individuals with mixed and/or different priorities from those expected of them by the society they live in. For a WHRD to be active and vocal in her society, she is regarded as remiss of her responsibilities at the home front. However, this period really highlighted the importance of WHRDs as leaders, both at the home and community fronts.

READ FULL REPORT HERE