KNCHR seeks claims from protest victims ahead of June payout deadline

Gen-Z protesters along Kenyatta Avenue on June 25, 2025. [File, Standard]

Human rights watchdog is racing to build a compensation system for protest victims from scratch, even as it waits for Parliament to release funds to run the exercise.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) on Friday called on victims of human rights violations, including those injured or bereaved during demonstrations, to submit supporting documents for verification by Friday, April 3.

Victims are required to provide supporting documents including P3 forms, medical reports, police OB reports and post-mortem reports, and can submit claims through SMS to 22359, email, WhatsApp or the commission's toll-free hotline.

The urgency stems from a directive by President William Ruto, who on March 6 issued a presidential proclamation and gazette notice directing KNCHR to develop a national framework for compensation and reparations within 60 days.

Ruto has since set a June 2026 completion deadline and included a Sh2 billion allocation for the exercise in the supplementary budget forwarded to Parliament.

"The Commission has initiated internal technical work, begun mapping areas most affected by protest-related and other human rights violations, and started engaging key stakeholders so that a credible framework can be put in place to guide a transparent, accountable, and comprehensive reparations process," said KNCHR Chairperson Claris Ogangah.

Ruto said the compensation will cover victims from 2017 to 2024, not only 2024 as initially projected.

KNCHR's role was cemented by the  High Court in Kerugoya on December 4, 2025, which affirmed the commission's constitutional mandate under Article 59 of the Constitution and the KNCHR Act, 2011, to design a reparations framework, effectively killing an earlier presidential panel that Ruto had set up to handle the same task.

The commission warned that money alone will not settle the matter. A full reparations programme, it said, must include restitution, rehabilitation, official acknowledgement, apologies and institutional reforms to prevent future violations.

At the same time, KNCHR called on Parliament and the National Treasury to urgently approve and release the funds needed to carry out what it described as a critical national.