Femicide is a national emergency, Barasa says

Technical Working Group on Gender Based Violence and Femicide Chairperson Nancy Barasa during a stakeholder engagement at KICC, Nairobi, on April 9, 2025. [Collins Oduor, Standard]

Kenya's Technical Working Group on Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and Femicide chairperson, Nancy Barasa, has raised the alarm over the rising cases of femicide, calling it a national emergency requiring urgent and radical action.

Speaking at a stakeholders' meeting at Kitale National Polytechnic in Trans Nzoia County, Dr Barasa revealed that nearly 700 women have been killed since 2016-an average of 40 per month, though underreporting suggests the figure could be higher. "Sixty per cent of femicide cases occur in homes. What should be a space of love has become a place of death," she said.