On Wednesday, April 24th, 2024, the Missing Voices Coalition launched its 2023 Annual Report focused on the theme "End Police Impunity" at the Heinrich Boell Foundation, Nairobi Office.
This marks the fourth report and a significant achievement for the Coalition since its inception. The report highlighted several key developments related to discussions on police impunity in the country for the year 2023. One major highlight was the reduction in extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances compared to the previous year. The report detailed a 9.2% decrease in extrajudicial killings, from 130 in 2022 to 118 in 2023, and a 54.5% decrease in enforced disappearances, from 22 in 2022 to 10 in 2023.
The 2022 report was launched on Friday 24th March 2023 , held in Yala, marked the launch of the Accountability report, shedding light on the Statistics and Trends of Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances in the country. The launch included a panel discussion by partners and keynote addresses by distinguished guests that include Ambassadors from Germany, Britain, the United States, and the European Union.
Missing Voices is a coalition of 15 Civil Society Organizations that aim to end extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in Kenya. Since its inception in August 2018, Missing Voices has documented and verified data on police killings and enforced disappearances (EDs) and held several campaigns to disseminate our research while pushing the general public to report incidents of police misconduct. These activities are done in partnership with stakeholders with the mission to get justice for victims and survivors and promote police accountability.
Kenya has a long history of police use of excessive force during law enforcement operations, either in informal settlements or in response to demonstrations, often resulting in unnecessary deaths. Several deaths from police violence were reported in 2020 during the first days of Kenya's dawn to dusk curfew imposed on March 27,2020 to contain the spread of COVID-19.
