This archive report was first published on 25 December 2019.
Every year, thousands of teenagers in Kenya engage in consensual sex, but the country's Sexual Offences Act puts them at risk of being imprisoned for up to 20 years.
According to a report by the Centre for Reproductive Rights (CRR) and the Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya (Fida-Kenya), the law criminalises sexual acts between minors, even if they consented to have sex.
The report, titled 'Criminalizing Adolescence: A Call to Reform the Sexual Offences Act', highlights the case of a 16-year-old boy who was arrested and charged with defiling his 14-year-old girlfriend. Despite being a minor, the boy was processed as an adult after court records erroneously indicated he was 19 at the time of committing the offence.
He was eventually handed a 20-year sentence, which he is serving at Kodiaga Prison. The report warns that hundreds of teenagers, especially boys, have been thrown into jail for similar offences.
The law on sexual offences has resulted in adolescent males being imprisoned and, in some cases, ending up with a permanent criminal record for engaging in consensual sexual conduct with other adolescents, the report notes.
Published on December 25, 2019, the report calls for the amendment of the Sexual Offences Act to decriminalise non-coercive and non-exploitative sex among adolescents, as well as improve minors' access to sex education.
It argues that criminalisation of a natural part of development often stems from the wrong idea that adolescents are unable to make decisions, and that laws and courts do not reach their purported aim of protecting children, but can also be harmful to adolescent health and development.
