Towards a transformative and inclusive justice mechanism for victims of state atrocities in Kenya

A KHRC commentary and advisory on the KNCHRC’s report on reparations for victims of violations of human rights, including demonstrations and public protests during the June 25 second anniversary 

  • INTRODUCTION 

 

Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) is a premier Non-Governmental Organization with a mandate of working with the people to consolidate their sovereign power to claim their rights and enhance accountability.  Transformative justice for various categories of victims, particularly those harmed by state apparatus, as well as the marginalised and disadvantaged groups in society, remains one of our core approaches and areas of work. This aims to consolidate our long history and legacy of successfully applying transitional justice and, among other progressive human rights mechanisms, in both national and transnational spheres to address systemic and mass atrocities committed by state and corporate violators from the colonial era to the five post-independence regimes, including the current Kenya Kwanza regime.

This period from 1895 to 2026 has seen the entrenchment of a culture of impunity by the governing elite as they enforce politically punitive and anti-people economic policies. The people of Kenya have remained persistently resistant to such bad governance systems. The ensuing confrontation between the state and people has seen gross human rights violations mainly committed by the police and other oppressive organs. Most of these have remained unresolved despite numerous truth- and justice-seeking processes, while the executive and political elite responsible have continued to drive them.

June 2024 saw a repeat of this, as Gen Z and the public at large organised both online and offline protests against the publication of a very oppressive Financial Bill. Many young people were injured, disappeared, killed and property worth millions of Kenyan shillings was destroyed. 

This situation deepened the national and international demand for truth and justice. The proposal by the Kenya Kwanza regime in July 2025 to develop a reparations framework targeting victims of state violence from 2017 to 2025 was along those lines. The initial plan was to have an executive-led process under the so-called Panel of Experts on Compensation of Victims of Demonstrations and Public Protests. However, this was challenged by many actors within and outside the courts for overriding the constitutional mandate of the state’s Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR). KHRC and its partners remained at the centre of this, providing policy and political insights. Finally, KNCHR took up the mandate and organised stakeholder consultations, during which many partners, including KHRC, shared their insights and recommendations. KNCHR prepared and handed over its report to Mr William Ruto on June 15, 2026.

  • POSITIVE PROVISIONS OF THE REPARATIONS REPORT AND FRAMEWORK

We agree with the following recommendations (not exhaustive) by the KNCHR, as verbatim captured in their report, and as earlier advised in our memorandum to it:

  1. All investigative agencies, including the National Police Service, the Independent Policing Oversight Authority should prioritize and urgently finalize investigations into all reported cases of police violations committed against members of the public during protests, in order to enhance accountability and access to justice for affected individuals and families.
  2. The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions should consider fast tracking the prosecution of law enforcement officers who participated in perpetrating human rights violations against civilians during public protests.
  3. Immediate support to victims of human rights violations, including victims from demonstrations and public protests, through an administrative process underpinned by the reparations guidelines pending the enactment of policy and legal framework.
  4. A formal public apology to victims of human rights violations, expressly acknowledging State responsibility for the harm documented in this Report. The apology should be accompanied by a publicly articulated guarantee of non-repetition, reflecting a commitment to implement the legislative, institutional, and policy reforms recommended herein.
  5. The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions should consider review and, where appropriate, terminate all ongoing criminal proceedings against human rights defenders and protesters arrested and charged in circumstances arising from the lawful exercise of rights under Article 37 of the Constitution.
  6. Social health benefits for victims to support continued medical care, psychosocial support and trauma counselling. Special attention should be given to survivors of torture, enforced disappearances, unlawful detention, sexual and gender-based violence, and victims who have suffered permanent physical or psychological harm. 
  7. Restoration of property, reinstatement of employment, restoration of identity documents, return to places of habitual residence, and restoration of access to education, health care, and livelihoods where these were unlawfully disrupted. 
  8. Formulation and adoption of a National Reparations Policy to provide an overarching framework for reparations, as well as urgent enactment of a comprehensive Reparations Act to establish a permanent legal framework governing the administration of reparations to victims of human rights violations.
  9. The Act should establish a permanent, ring-fenced Reparations Fund to be administered by an independent Institution. The Fund should be financed through annual appropriation from the National Treasury, supplemented by donations, grants, and other sources. The establishment of a dedicated Fund is necessary to ensuring sustainable, predictable, adequate financing for reparations.

  • OUR RECOMMENDATIONS FOR DEEPENING JUSTICE AND ENDING THE CULTURE OF IMPUNITY
  • Public apology: We do not want a situation like in April 2015, when former president Uhuru Kenyatta issued a statement of apology to the nation as per the recommendations of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation report, only to end up committing equally grave injustices between 2016 and 2022, which ironically formed part of the mandate of the initiative in question.  To this end, we demand an official acknowledgement and acceptance of liability for the wrongs committed during the period under review, and a commitment to never repeat them.
  • Truth and justice: Ensure thorough and independent investigations within the presidency, which has remained deeply culpable.  To this end, we propose a special task force within the National Council on the Administration of Justice(NCAJ), under the leadership of the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) and with the support of KNCHR, the Commission on Administrative Justice (CAJ), National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC), Law Society of Kenya and the civil society organisations under NCAJ and others involved in advocating against human rights and police abuses. This should not only focus on identifying and holding to account the liable state institutions but also the corporates and individuals/ groups, including the so-called “goons” that perpetrated the heinous crimes against the people of Kenya.  Failure to do this means the proposal is that civil society immediately implement the “People's Truth and Justice Commission” mooted two years ago.  This novel idea has been tried in many countries where governments are unwilling and unable to confront abominable human rights situations they are responsible for. 
  • Memorialization: Just like the rest of human rights partners, we recommend the declaration of June 25 as a national day and building of a national monument in remembrance of those affected. Monuments serve as critical pillars of transitional justice, moving beyond courtroom trials and financial compensation to provide symbolic reparations. They offer physical spaces for collective mourning, establish an undeniable public record of historical atrocities, and serve as moral warnings to prevent future violence. We propose a monument where the names of victims are permanently inscribed. Additions to the names should be undertaken, so that those unknown now, and are known in future, should be considered, or in situations where violence continues to be perpetuated. The Parque de la Memoria (Monument to the Victims of State Terrorism) in Argentina, which we have interacted with many times, is a classic example.  Additionally, as KHRC was part of the leadership steering the formulation, erection, and maintenance of the Mau Mau Monument at the Freedom Corner in Nairobi, we can share more insights on this. 
  • Other categories of victims and violations: There is a need for a special and complementary process to address justice for other victims and violations committed before 2017. This will ensure inclusion and avoid the obvious temptation to advance selective justice for certain, special, and preferred groups and periods for political purposes. As such, we propose as follows:  
  1. Full implementation of the report of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission published in 2013 (covering 1963 to 2012) and other investigations undertaken by the state and civil society institutions between 2013 and 2017. 
  2. Immediate payment of reparations awarded by courts in the cases filed for the former Nyayo House Torture Victims by the KHRC and National Victims and Survivors Associations. Here, financial remedies were awarded, but the successive regimes from 2008 to date have refused to pay.  So how do you choose who to pay and not to pay? These were among the first victims of related mass police atrocities of young Kenyans. 
  3. Inclusion of the new group of victims affected from July 2025 to 2026.
  4. Following through on the unresolved injustices by the British government from 1895.
  • Guarantee of non-repetition 

In the aftermath of conflict or repression, guarantees of non-recurrence have a crucial role in preventing future violations of human rights and reinforcing the rule of law, respect for human rights, and contributing to sustaining peace and development. It is very clear that the regime in power is not interested in changing its bad-governance culture and practices. Despite the above mechanisms, many violations are still being committed with abandon. We have serious questions about this political hypocrisy of monetising reparations while normalising injustices. For how long shall those in power keep on harming Kenyans and, at the same time, abusing their taxes for tokenistic remedies?

We demand that the executive end the following abusive tendencies with immediate effect. We also demand:

  1. The deeply entrenched colonial regime policing model, where the deep state security apparatus commits abuses with the blessings of those in power, despite the clear constitutional guidelines towards democratic policing.  We welcome the proposal for guidelines in the implementation of the provisions of Article 37 of the Constitution on the right to petition and protest. We challenge the regime not to use this to limit rights but expand them by operationalising the international guidelines and best practices.  KHRC will monitor and challenge any unconstitutional and untenable provisions in this regard. 
  2. The end of “political goonism”, where organised criminal gangs have been committing violence with support and on behalf of the state and the political class at large. The idea is to basically outsource violence and avoid accountability, now that individual and command responsibility has been escalated on the side of the police.  This is also meant to instil a chilling effect and informal repression against those perceived to be enemies of the state. The last disruption of a joint event organised by the church and civil society (KHRC involved) at All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi on June 12, 2026, is evidence of how this criminal behaviour has been formalised.  It is no wonder the goons involved in the disruption of the press conference held at KHRC for mothers of victims of police abuses on July 6, 2025, are yet to be identified and held to account. 
  3. Enactment and implementation of laws that creep into civic and democratic spaces in the country.  We are aware of the many colonial and post-independence policies and regulations which successive and current regimes have advanced for repressive ends. This is called the lawfare phenomenon.  We call for the review and repeal of all those retrogressive regimes. The Public Order Act, the Prevention of Torture Act, and the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act remain the most notorious for curtailing offline and online spaces, respectively. KHRC is finalising a critical study that documents such punitive systems. We will use this to have most of the barbaric laws declared unconstitutional. 
  4. The end of state capture, which makes it impossible for Parliament and Constitutional Commissions to execute their constitutional oversight roles against the endlessly imperial presidency. 
  5. End any nefarious attempt to compromise on the proposed investigations, reforms, and reparations. Additionally, there must be an end to bad governance policies that cause social and economic suffering for the people, as this is the basis for many protests in the country.  The latest Finance Bill and the audacity to initiate the construction of an Ebola facility for US citizens affected by the DRC amid a court order stopping the same showcase the levels of political insensitivity and impunity in decision-making. 
  6. Inclusion of all victims of police violence without any discrimination. 
  7. KNCHR, in consultation with the victims, civil society, Witness Protection Advisory Board, and Witness Protection Agency, should develop a framework for the protection of victims.

  • CONCLUSION

We call for a return to the country's constitutional and democratic order, for this is the only safeguard for good governance, respect for human rights, and the rule of law. We call upon the people of Kenya to arise and remain vigilant in safeguarding their sovereignty and the implementation of the constitution. The behaviour of the state during the second anniversary of the Gen-Z protests on June 25 is going to be a true test of how the regime is committed to protecting people’s rights to protest, expression, assembly, security, health, among others.  May Justice be our shield and defender.