NATIONAL REPORT 2016 The right to rehabilitation The Victims Protection Act of 2014 provides the legal framework for reparations for the victims of crime in Kenya including victims of torture. The objectives of the Act are: In the Rift Valley region, the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret and the Jaramogi Odinga Teaching and Referral hospital in Kisumu are the only two large referral and rehabilitation facilities. The hospital in Eldoret also serves parts of Eastern Uganda and the South Sudan. There are some privately owned and NGO-operated rehabilitation centres, but they largely treat drug addicts – not victims of torture. a) to provide for protection of victims of crime and abuse of power, and to provide them with better information and support services In its General Comment No. 3, the UN Committee against Torture established that in order for victims to effectively enjoy the right to rehabilitation, appropriate services must be available and promptly accessible. Unfortunately, the services provided to survivors in the Rift Valley Region fail to meet these criteria. b) to provide for reparation and compensation to victims c) to provide special protection for vulnerable victims Both aforementioned hospitals have the setup to offer basic rehabilitation services to torture victims because they employ physicians and psychologists/psychiatrists who operate under medical-ethical codes. However, appropriate services remain illusory due to congestion in the hospitals, inappropriate infrastructure and inadequate resources, resulting in a lack of specialisation and continuity of services provided to torture victims. The act provides for the following forms of reparation: 1. Rehabilitation 2. Restitution and 3. Compensation The Victim Protection Act establishes the Victims Protection Board, which among other things is supposed to run the Victim Protection Fund. This fund is supposed to facilitate the rehabilitation of victims of crime including torture. The Board is yet to be established and the Fund yet to be operationalised. There is therefore no government support system for victims and survivors of torture hence they have to depend on the support of civil society organisations such as CAT Kenya, IMLU and MATESO. Victims of torture have often sought redress before the courts in Kenya, mostly for compensation for the violations they have suffered. The challenge has remained that court cases take very long in Kenya (minimum of three years) before there is a decision. When the court cases do come to an end and victims are awarded damages by the court, it takes more than five years (in most cases) before a victim of torture can access the compensation awarded. In some cases the victims die leaving their families in abject poverty. Due to the vast nature of this region, the hospitals have not devised outreach programmes or established satellite camps to ensure that services are continuously available to victims living in remote areas. The hospitals are overwhelmed with the number of patients they service, which further diminishes their ability to offer services that are appropriate to torture victims. The hospitals charge victims a fee for specific forms of treatment. The victims also have other challenges in accessing services such as poor infrastructure, mobility problems and poverty. Thus while torture victims in the Rift Valley region can theoretically receive rehabilitation services, the reality is one where victims are left to seek support from local NGOs or pay private clinics in their efforts to rebuild their lives. page 11