This archive report was first published on 10 November 2019.
Coast General Hospital's recovery centre and desk for sexual gender violence survivors have been in operation since 2007, thanks to the International Centre For Reproductive Health (ICRH) Kenya.
Supported by various partners, the centre has attended to 7,761 survivors of sexual violence, with a grim picture emerging of the atrocities committed against young children, mostly by relatives and guardians.
According to Saida Mwinyi, the nursing counsellor in charge of the centre, three quarters of the victims are children, with the average age of perpetrators ranging from 20 to 40 years.
Between January and now, Mwinyi and her colleagues have dealt with an estimated 400 patients who have been sexually violated, with some cases involving pregnant victims.
Despite referring all cases to the police, Mwinyi noted that there are instances where cases are settled at home, with spouses pleading with the police not to prosecute perpetrators due to the potential break-up of families.
A 2012 study by ICRH Kenya found that only 47% of victims reported to the police, while 15% did nothing after being brutalized. Furthermore, only 34% of respondents reported that their cases had been concluded, with a mere 21% feeling that they had received justice.
