NATIONAL REPORT 2016 The situation for victims of torture and ill-treatment IMLU’s data indicates that a victim of torture in Kenya is mainly a young male (21-35 years) who lives and works in the informal settlements within the cities or in the rural area with an average earning of about 2 USD per day. Women are either directly victimised through sexual violence and rape or are secondary victims of torture being either spouses or mothers of the male victims of torture. This is exemplified in the data collected by MATESO and CAT-Kenya in 2015, where there is a very high prevalence of women and children among the victims in the geographical areas they serve. Torture and ill-treatment have devastating effects on the victims, their family and the community at large. The effects are not limited to the physical but also include psychological effects such as extreme levels of depression and anxiety. These manifest in many ways including sleep disorders, recurring and intrusive memories, poor self-esteem, and difficulty in concentrating, sadness, fear, anger, and psychosomatic symptoms. This trauma is often transferred to spouses and children creating similar effects on them and it is seen to lead to breakdown in family and personal relationships. In some cases it can lead to the death or inability to work and earn a living of the main provider in a household resulting in devastating economic consequences for the entire family. The impact of torture often amounts to a double hazard for survivors as they both experience extreme trauma and stigmatisation, through a negative or hostile public attitude. Victims of torture and their families need rehabilitation so that their lives can get back to normal as much as possible. The victims’ most urgent and immediate needs are health and psychological support, to address the traumatic impacts that are caused by both physical suffering and stigmatisation by members of society. However, in order to deal with the impunity and to rebuild their socio-economic situation, survivors need a more holistic support system including legal and social support. They repeatedly express a strong sense of frustration about the prevailing impunity for perpetrators and the limited access to justice. These factors eventually result in a deep sense of injustice that tends to compound the adverse psychological effects of torture. Unfortunately, seeking justice is both challenging and potentially re-traumatising for most victims due to deficient national procedures. Section 40(6) and (7) of the National Police Service Act provides that each police station is competent to register victims and receive, record and report complaints against police misconduct within their areas of jurisdiction. In practice however, this is the police station where the alleged perpetrator of the act of torture or ill-treatment is based. It therefore becomes a challenge for the victim of torture to make a complaint in such a police station due to fear of reprisal and victimisation by the alleged perpetrator. A survey conducted by IMLU among hawkers and small-scale business operators in Nairobi City County in 2014, showed that only 12.6 percent of torture cases are reported to state agencies, mostly the police. The reason for the reluctance among victims is that some feel it is a waste of time, while others say that no action has been taken in the cases they have already reported. The lack of prompt investigations and prosecution of perpetrators of torture breeds a culture of impunity amongst perpetrators and apathy amongst the victims of torture. Supporters commemorating the UN International Day in Support of Torture Victims, 26 June. © courtesy of IMLU page 8