A Kenyan High Court has ordered police to
reinvestigate complaints of rape by 11 girls in a landmark case brought by a
children’s charity on behalf of more than 240 victims of child rape, some of
them as young as three years old.
Mercy Chidi, who runs the Ripples International
children’s charity in Meru, Kenya, filed a petition on behalf of the girls, who
came to the charity for help after being raped by fathers, grandfathers,
uncles, police officers and neighbors.
The police rarely investigated their complaints,
even locking one girl in a cell after she reported one of their colleagues had
raped her, Chidi said.
Police demanded bribes to investigate rape, refused
to investigate unless the victims produced witnesses, and said victims had
consented to intercourse, the victims said.
The court order released late on Tuesday in Meru,
240 km (150 miles) northeast of Nairobi, said police contributed to a culture
of tolerance for sexual violence against girls.
“Perpetrators know they can commit crimes against
innocent children without fear of being apprehended and prosecuted,” the court
said.
“The respondents showed disbelief, blamed the
victims, humiliated them, yelled at and ignored them.”
Police who failed to enforce the law now risked
arrest, fines and imprisonment, said a lawyer for the girls, Fiona Sampson of
The Equality Effect, an international legal rights network.
“It is a huge victory for the individual girls and
for girls across Kenya and, I would say, Africa,” she said.
The Equality Effect is supporting similar claims in
Ghana and Malawi, and has been approached by groups in Uganda, Tanzania,
Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo asking for legal assistance to
initiate cases.
One in five women and girls are victims of sexual
violence in Kenya, according to a 2008/09 government survey. Rape is rarely
reported due to stigma and lack of faith in the justice system, although there
are strong laws against sexual assault.
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