NAIROBI,Kenya – There are five major highlights of this year’s 2024 Missing Voices Report:
● Enforced disappearances by police up by nearly five times from 2023
● June and July were the deadliest months, same in 2023
● Nairobi was the deadliest county for EJKs followed by Kiambu and Migori
● Less than 2% of police related EJKs are in court
● Most victims of enforced disappearances were neither prosecuted nor allowed todemonstrate their innocence in court of law. They have not received justice or compensation by the time of the report.
Missing Voices documented a total of 159 cases of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in 2024. Out of the 159 cases, 104 (65%) were incidents of police related killings, while 55 (35%) were those of enforced disappearances. 2024 marked the year that the coalition recorded the highest number of cases of enforced disappearances. Before then, 2019 had the highest number of cases of enforced disappearances at 38.
2024 saw an increase of 24% of cases of enforced disappearances and police killings compared to 2023. Enforced disappearances increased by 450% from 10 cases in 2023 to 55
in 2024. However, cases of police related killings saw a drop of 12% from 118 in 2023 to 104 in 2024.
Most cases of extrajudicial killings took place during the Gen Z demos between June and August, with June recording the highest number of cases at 38, 11 July cases and 9 August. Bringing police killings cases to 58 during the protest period.
Nairobi county led with the number of killings at 38 cases, followed by Kiambu 9 cases, Migori 6, Kakamega and Nakuru had five cases each, with Makueni and Uasin Gishu recorded 4 cases of police killings.
Most victims of extrajudicial killings were youth between 18 and 34 years old. A majority of those killed were youth at 79, followed by adults at 18, and minors below 18 years were 7.When it comes to gender, 91% of the victims of extrajudicial killings were men compared to 9% who were female. Males, and especially young men, continue to bear the brunt of the cases of police killings.
The 2024 enforced disappearance statistics exclude 36 members of Uganda’s Forum for Democratic Change who were abducted in Kisumu on 23 July 2024. The 104 incidents of extrajudicial killings exclude 50 bullet-riddled unclaimed bodies in the City Mortuary reported to have been booked on 25th July 2024.
While these bodies were booked at the height of the protest, Missing Voices has yet to verify and establish the link to police action independently. However, we mention them in the report due to their magnitude, just like the organisation did during the documentation of River Yala bodies in the 2022 report, since the manner of killings was suspicious. Missing V oices highlighted the 50 cases, even though they are not part of our verified totals. There are two people whom the police said had committed suicide. They have been documented as deaths while in police custody.
Despite the high number of enforced disappearances, no officer has been taken to court and charged with the crimes. The Independent Policing Oversight Authority has reported 60 cases arising out of the protest; however, so far, only two have been taken to court. This was in response to the release of the BBC documentary “Blood Parliament.”
The challenges of investigating and prosecuting cases emanating from protests have necessitated the doctrine of command responsibility, which Missing Voices partners are pursuing in the Baby Pendo case. We are concerned that the DPP dropped charges against 8 senior commanders who had been lined up for prosecution.
Even more worrying was the move by the DPP to expose witnesses in the charge sheet, endangering their lives. It is worrisome that the majority of cases forwarded to ODPP arising from protests have either been returned for further investigation or closed, making it difficult to hold police officers to account for public order management violations.
We are deeply concerned about the excessive use of force, especially during election periods and consequential picketing and peaceful protests that frequently have ended in assault, grievous harm, and sadly, loss of life. Missing V oices recognises that police officers serve as custodians of law and order and should exercise their mandate per the established legal requirements.
This underpins the importance of enforcing the principle of command responsibility, which would hold senior police officers to account, thus enhancing accountability, where abuses cannot be linked to individual officers.
We urge investigative agencies—including IPOA, the Internal Affairs Unit (IAU), and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI)—to adopt advanced technological tools, such asphoto metadata analysis, to strengthen evidence-gathering in cases involving unlawful use of force and firearms during public protests. Reliable digital evidence is critical to ensuring accountability and restoring public trust in law enforcement.
We demand that:
▪The National Police Services to undertake intense radical reforms that will ensure non-reoccurence of the violent policing seen in 2024
▪ IPOA and ODPP urgently act on cases touching on command responsibility to
address deaths during protests.
▪Parliament allocates funds to the Victim Protection Fund to adequately cater for reparations for all victims and families of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.
▪The State fulfils its commitment to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearances that Kenya signed in 2007, and for Parliament to enact legislation to specifically criminalise enforced disappearances under domestic law.
▪The Executive needs to implement the National Coroner’s Service Act and establish the National Coroners Service to support independent investigations into all deaths.
▪We urge the NPS to enhance community policing to bridge the trust gap between the public and security agencies.