In a communiqué given to former U.N. Security General Kofi Annan’ s mediation team, Kenyan women called for an end to the violence, an urgent response to the particular needs of women and children, and constitutional and legal reforms.
Sexual violence and gang rapes are prevalent in the post-election conflict. Additionally, the majority of the internally displaced persons in Kenya, approximately 300,000, are women and children. These Kenyan women, who represent a diversity of religious, ethnic, political, class, and professional backgrounds, are calling for a declaration of a national disaster. They are also calling for recognition and a central role in all levels of the peace and nation building process, reaffirmed in UN Resolution 1325, the AU Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality and the protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of women in Africa.
NGO’s have coordinated two-week strategy sessions on how to ensure women’s participation. Annan has reaffirmed this need, and commented, “to realize peace, we need complete mobilization of society at all levels, we need the women.”
Compiled from: “
Kenyan Women Condemn Sexual Crimes and Inter-Ethic Killings in Post-Election Strife,” News Brief, UNIFEM, 30 January 2008.
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