On June 23, PBI-Kenya tweeted:

In the lead-up to the march, the Mothers Network also tweeted:

The general election is scheduled for August 9, 2022.

Following the 2017 election, Human Rights Watch stated: “The elections were marred by serious human rights violations by Kenyan security forces, who used excessive force to break up protests and carry out house-to-house operations, particularly in opposition strongholds in Nairobi and western Kenya.”

It further noted: “At least 12 people were killed by police in western counties of Kisumu and Siaya alone and another 33 in Nairobi during the violence.”

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders has also warned: “Human rights defenders often face hostile discourse from State officials and are denigrated via smear campaigns with the aim to delegitimize their work. …This has particularly affected human rights defenders and civil society addressing voters’ education and electoral monitoring ahead of the general elections.”

Beyond elections, the Mother’s Network has also noted: “In Nairobi, people are killed by police every week. Most victims are young men who live in the city’s informal settlements, places where all of the public services that a state owes its citizens—water, electricity, security, education, healthcare—are denied and substituted instead with violent policing.”

For more on the work of the Mothers of Victims & Survivors Network, click here.