Kenya faces worst human rights record UN report

Police rough up a protester in Kisumu. [File, Standard]

Fifteen years ago, Kenya unveiled a new Constitution hailed across the continent as a democratic milestone - a blueprint for healing a country scarred by political violence, inequality, and repression.

But that promise, the United Nations now warns, is quickly disintegrating, leaving Kenyans at the mercy of State brutality.

In a scathing new report, the UN Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review paints a grim picture of a country sliding into impunity: a Kenya where critics disappear into the night, protesters are gunned down in daylight, and constitutional safeguards are casually discarded by a regime increasingly intolerant of dissent.

The report, tabled at the Council's 49th session in Geneva, April28 - May 9 2025, details a dramatic surge in abductions, torture, and killings of activists, medical professionals, lawyers, and journalists - especially during the Gen Z-led protests against the controversial 2024 Finance Bill.

It outlines a staggering rise in State-sponsored violence - especially during 2024's anti-tax protests - and accuses President William Ruto's administration of blocking UN human rights officials from carrying out investigations into alleged killings, abductions, and torture.

"There had been several requests for country visits from special procedure mandate holders, but there had been no commitment from Kenya to grant those requests," the report said, noting that Kenya has ignored appeals from UN rapporteurs probing torture and extrajudicial executions.

An arc of impunity

Across three administrations-the late President Mwai Kibaki, his successor Uhuru Kenyatta, and Ruto-Kenya's promise of justice has steadily eroded, with each leader compounding the failures of the last.

According to UN and human rights Watchdog reports, President Mwai Kibaki watched as Kenya bled. The 2007-2008 post-election crisis left over 1,300 dead, hundreds raped, and nearly half a million displaced. He formed a truth commission, but truth alone proved hollow.

Justice was buried in bureaucracy when he failed to implement the report-UN pleas were brushed aside, and survivors were left clinging to promises that never came.

Uhuru inherited the silence and deepened it. His administration spied on citizens, muzzled civil society, and ignored the Truth Justice Reconciliation Commission's findings.

Civil society groups explain that the government ignored recommendations from TJRC, and police brutality-especially during protests and counterterror operations-continued with impunity.

"We can confirm that the bodies were dumped and recovered from the Yala River between July 2021 and January 2022, with more discoveries continuing-the latest just this morning," Amnesty International said on January 22, 2022.

The UN reports says that Human rights defenders and journalists were targeted, especially during the International Criminal Court (ICC) proceedings. Police violently suppressed protests, and extrajudicial killings surged under the guise of counterterrorism.

"Despite reports to local police, there has been a disturbing lack of urgency or interest in investigating who these victims were, who killed them, and why they were dumped in the Yala River," Amnesty International said.

Under President Ruto, critics say, the gloves have come off. Protesters vanish, critics are tortured, and bodies are recovered from rivers, dams, and quarries. Court orders are defied, UN investigators blocked, and due process mocked. Where Kibaki hesitated and Kenyatta concealed, Ruto appears to have embraced repression, turning fear into State policy.

What worries UN officials and civil society most, the report says, is not just the scale of abuse, but the sense that it is now institutionalised.

Open embrace of repression

While human rights violations in Kenya are not new, observers warn that the current crisis marks a dangerous escalation.

"The repression is no longer hidden-it is happening in full view," said an activist, quoted anonymously for safety. "The Constitution has become an inconvenience, not a guide."

The UN report details a sharp rise in State-sponsored violence, especially during the 2024 anti-tax protests that swept Kenya's cities and towns. Over 60 people were killed, dozens disappeared, and scores were abducted in what rights groups described as coordinated crackdowns by security forces.

Anti riot police arrest an activist along Kimathi Street in Nairobi, during the marking of Saba Saba Day in Nairobi, on July 7, 2021. [File, Standard]

Billy Mwangi, a 24-year-old university student from Embu, recounted his 15-day ordeal after being abducted for tweet. "I was tortured and beaten. They didn't want information-they wanted submission," he said.

Despite mounting evidence, the government maintains it is committed to ensuring the rights of the people are respected. In its national report to the UN, Kenya cited police codes of conduct and reforms to professionalise the security sector. A police task force formed in 2022 recommended improvements in welfare and independence.

"To strengthen the implementation of the Prevention of Torture Act, the ODPP is conducting training for prosecutors," the government said.

Yet watchdogs argue these efforts are superficial-underfunded, lacking political will, and contradicted by daily abuses.

"Kenya's human rights framework looks impressive on paper," said one civil society group cited in the report, "but the reality is brutal."

The government has also refused to ratify key international treaties, including the Convention on Enforced Disappearances, and has failed to implement laws protecting human rights defenders.

The report says 16 NGOs were recently accused by authorities of "sponsoring" protests with foreign funding, including from the Ford Foundation-a claim widely dismissed as an intimidation tactic.

The Judiciary, once seen as an independent check on executive power, is now under pressure. The report cites Ruto's defiance of court rulings, attacks on judges, and budget cuts to oversight agencies.

ICJ Kenya told the UN that underfunding has crippled legal aid, while court cases on torture and killings are delayed or dismissed. A police commander implicated in 2024 protester abductions was later promoted, the report says. "The message is clear: there will be no accountability," said one NGO, identified only as JS22 to protect staff from harassment.

Legislative assaults

The report catalogues a litany of structural abuses: extrajudicial killings, forced evictions of Indigenous groups, and sexual violence against women and girls.

It also warns of creeping authoritarianism through legislation. The proposed Assembly and Demonstration Bill - which gives police sweeping powers to control protests - and amendments to cybercrime laws expanding State surveillance have been condemned by UN experts as censorship tools

A group of NGOs, code-named JS6, criticised the Assembly and Demonstration Bill for giving authorities excessive control over demonstrations. Another group, JS16, pointed out delays in adopting the Education Bill and National Education Policy, hindering the 2023-2027 strategic plan. JS42 raised concerns about the Religious Organizations Bill, limiting religious activities and excluding stakeholders.

The Family Protection Bill, which seeks to criminalise homosexuality and related activities, has also drawn fierce criticism from rights groups.

The human toll is staggering. By December 2024, the Kenya Human Rights Commission and Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU) had documented 63 people killed, 82 missing, and thousands injured.

A coalition of civil society groups documented 159 cases: 104 police killings and 55 enforced disappearances - the highest ever recorded.

"Enforced disappearances surged by 450 per cent, from 10 in 2023 to 55 in 2024, while police killings decreased by 12 per cent. Most extrajudicial killings occurred during the Gen Z protests, with 58 deaths recorded between June and August," ICJ said in a report last week.

The report said that most victims of extrajudicial killings were youth between 18 and 34 years old, with 91 per cent being male.