Indicator 16.10.1 Number of verified cases of killing, kidnapping, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention and torture of journalists, associated media personnel, trade unionists and human rights advocates in the previous 12 months

Goal 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

Target 16.10: Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements

Indicator 16.10.1: Number of verified cases of killing, kidnapping, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention and torture of journalists, associated media personnel, trade unionists and human rights advocates in the previous 12 months

2023

16.1.1; 16.1.2; 16.1.3; 16.1.4; 16.10.2; 16.3.1; 16.3.2; 16.a.1

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics

Senior Manager, Social Statistics

Social Statistics

Collect, compile, analyze and disseminate statistics on governance, peace and security, gender, education and health

+254 735004401, +254 202911000, +254 202911001

P.O Box 30266-00100, Nairobi

dpss@knbs.or.ke

Definition:

Definition:

This indicator is defined as the number of verified cases of killing, enforced disappearance, torture, arbitrary detention, kidnapping and other harmful acts committed against journalists, trade unionists and human rights defenders on an annual basis.

‘Journalists’ refers to everyone who observes, describes, documents and analyses events, statements, policies, and any propositions that can affect society, with the purpose of systematizing such information and gathering of facts and analyses to inform sectors of society or society as a whole, and others who share these journalistic functions, including all media workers and support staff, as well as community media workers and so-called “citizen journalists” when they momentarily play that role, professional full-time reporters and analysts, as well as bloggers and others who engage in forms of self-publication in print, on the internet or elsewhere.

‘Trade unionists’ refers to everyone exercising their right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of their interests. A trade union is an association of workers organized to protect and promote their common interests.

‘Human rights defenders’ refers to everyone exercising their right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at national and international levels including some journalists and trade unionists. While the term ‘human rights advocate’ is broadly speaking a synonymous of ‘human rights defender,’ the latter is preferred as it is more consistent with internationally agreed human rights standards and established practice.

The different categories of violations tracked by the indicator have been defined in accordance with international law and methodological standards and monitoring practices developed by the OHCHR and other international mechanisms and classified drawing on the International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes (ICCS) disseminated by the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC). As such:

‘Killing’ is defined as any extrajudicial execution or other unlawful killing by State actors or other actors acting with the State’s permission, support or acquiescence that were motivated by the victim, or someone associated with the victim, engaging in activities as a journalist, trade unionist or human rights defender; or while the victim was engaged in such activities; or by persons or groups not acting with the support or acquiescence of the State whose harmful acts were either motivated by the victim engaging in activities as a journalist, trade unionist or human rights defender, and/or met by a failure of due diligence on the part of the State in responding to these harmful acts, such a failure motivated by the victim or associate engaging in activities as a journalist, trade unionist or human rights defender; and other unlawful attacks and destruction in violation of international humanitarian law leading to or intending to cause the victim’s death., corresponding to ICCS codes 0101, 0102 and 110139 and coded herein as A [0101, 0102 and 110139].

`Enforced disappearance’ refers to the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty of a victim by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, motivated by the victim, or someone associated with the victim, engaging in activities as a journalist, trade unionist or human rights defender, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation.

‘Torture’ refers to any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a journalist, trade unionist or human rights defender, for such purposes as obtaining from them or a third person information or a confession, punishing them, intimidating them or coercing them, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other persons acting in an official capacity, corresponding to ICCS code 11011 and coded herein as C 11011].

‘Arbitrary detention’ refers to any arrest or detention not in accordance with national laws, because it is not properly based on grounds established by law, or does not conform to the procedures established by law, or is otherwise deemed arbitrary in the sense of being inappropriate, unjust, unreasonable or unnecessary in the circumstances, and motivated by the victim, or someone associated with the victim, engaging in activities as a journalist, trade unionist or human rights defender, corresponding to ICCS code 020222 (unlawful deprivation of liberty) and coded herein as D [020222AD]

‘Kidnapping’ refers to unlawfully detaining, taking away and/or confining a victim without their consent by persons or groups not acting with the support or acquiescence of the State, and the unlawful detention and/or confinement was met by a failure of due diligence on the part of the State in responding to the unlawful detention, such a failure motivated by the victim or associate engaging in activities as a journalist, trade unionist or human rights defender, corresponding to ICCS codes 020221 and coded herein as E [020221]

‘Other harmful acts’ refers to other acts by State actors or other actors acting with the State’s permission, support or acquiescence causing harm or intending to cause harm and motivated by the victim engaging in activities as a journalist, trade unionist or human rights defender, corresponding to ICCS codes 0301, 0219, 110133, 02012, 0205, 0208, 0210 and 0211, and coded herein as F [0301, 0219, 110133, 02012, 0205, 0208, 0210 and 0211].

‘Verified cases’ refer to reported cases that contain a minimum set of relevant information on particular persons and circumstances, which have been reviewed by mandated bodies, mechanisms, and institutions, and provided them with reasonable grounds to believe those persons were victims of the above-mentioned human rights violations or abuses.

Concepts:

The operational definitions of the cases, victims and other elements of the indicator have been patterned as far as practicable after corresponding categories in ICCS. The task of classifying cases entails observing events from both statistical standards and international law perspectives.

This conceptual approach is necessitated by the confluence of three factors. First is the principle that all the violent acts tracked by the indicator are motivated by the exercise of fundamental freedoms that are guaranteed by human rights law to all persons. Second, while human rights abuses are not always explicitly criminalized in domestic jurisdictions, ICCS has achieved a certain level of success in terms of integrating human rights elements in the classification of crimes.

Third, irrespective of definitions provided by national legislation or practices, all events – whether ordinary crimes or human rights violations – that meet the elements provided in the definitional framework will be counted for statistical purposes.

Number of verified Cases

International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes, ICCS 2015

Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR); and Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA)

KNBS sends a data template to the Heads of KNCHR and IPOA on the verified cases of killing, kidnapping, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention and torture of journalists, associated media personnel, trade unionists and human rights advocates.

KNCHR in collaboration with KNBS and various organizations dealing human rights issues do conduct a validation exercise on the reported cases before sending to OHCHR for reporting.

Annually

2023

KNCHR; IPOA

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) is established under the Statistics Act, 2006 as the principal agency of the Government for collecting, analyzing and disseminating statistical data in Kenya, as the custodian of official statistical information and promoting effective statistical coordination of NSS.

This indicator seeks to measure enjoyment of fundamental freedoms (e.g. freedom of opinion, freedom of expression and access to information, the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of association) on the premise that killing, enforced disappearance, torture, arbitrary detention, kidnapping and other harmful act against journalists, trade unionists and human rights defenders have a chilling effect on the exercise of these fundamental freedoms.

What distinguishes this indicator from Indicator 16.1.1 (number of victims of intentional homicide per 100,000 populations by sex and age) aside from the broader scope of violent incidents, is the motivation or causal factor, i.e. that the violation was motivated by the victim having stood up to defend the rights of others, exercise fundamental freedoms, or have occurred while the victim was engaged in such activities. Alongside indicator 16.10.2 (number of countries that adopt and implement constitutional, statutory and/or policy guarantees for public access to information) this indicator provides both a micro and macro-level snapshot of the state of the aforementioned fundamental freedoms in various contexts, as well as a link to the processes and structures required to meet human rights obligations with respect to those fundamental freedoms.

Verified cases from Civil Society is yet to be collected.

Duplication should be looked at during validation.

The indicator is calculated as the total count of victims of reported incidents occurring within the preceding 12 months.

Drawing on the ICCS, which is an incidents-based international classification system, the indicator counts victims on the basis of cases of violations or abuses using a classification framework developed for the purposes of the indicator.

For reporting purposes, the recorded offences will be ordered taking into account a hierarchy of violations or abuses drawing on the “most serious offence” rule commonly applied in crime statistics:

1. Killing

2. Torture

3. Enforced disappearance

4. Arbitrary detention

5. Kidnapping

6. Other harmful acts

If an incident incorporates elements of more than one category, it is coded to the higher category. Thus for an incident in which the victim was subjected to prolonged incommunicado detention without medical access in the course of an unlawful detainment, the violation would be counted under torture.

Upon receiving filled-in data templates from KNHCR and IPOA, KNBS reviews and validates the data as per the Kenya Statistical Quality Assurance Framework (KeSQAF) and Principles of Official statistics through the Governance Peace and Security Statistics Technical Working Committee.

None

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics is ISO certified based on 9001:2015 Standard requirements. The processes of compilation, production, publication and dissemination of data, including quality control, are carried out following the methodological framework and standards established by the KNBS, in compliance with the Internationally acceptable standards

The KNBS adheres to Kenya Statistical Quality Assurance Framework (KeSQAF) that underlines principles to be assured in managing the statistical production processes and output.

KNBS developed a quality assurance framework (KeSQAF), to record and reference the full range of quality concepts, dimensions, and practices. These include; Relevance, accuracy, reliability, timeliness, punctuality, accessibility, clarity, coherence, consistency, methodological soundness, and integrity

Data Availability Data available at National level.

Time Series

2020 to 2022

Disaggregation

Disaggregated by type of violation

There is a likelihood of underreporting because of the sensitivity of the subject and the fact that cases from most of the civil societies were not considered.

URl:

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Indicators/Pages/HRIndicatorsIndex.aspx

References:

International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes - ICCS, 2015

Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (frequently abbreviated “The Declaration on human rights defenders”):

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/SRHRDefenders/Pages/Declaration.aspx