The death penalty is a cruel, degrading and inhumane form of punishment. As the international instruments (Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ) provide for its abolition, it is valid within Kenya's constitutional and legislative frameworks—specifically, the Penal Code which prescribes death as a punishment for capital offences.

ICJ Kenya has been at the forefront of the advocacy campaign to abolish the death penalty in Kenya. As an organization that advances women's rights, the fight for the abolition of the death penalty ought to be based on an intersectional and gender-based approach. For this reason, we periodically conduct research to inform our advocacy strategies on the realities of women on death row.

According to the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, women comprise less than 5% of the global death row population. Analysis of their profiles, backgrounds, and crimes for which they were sentenced reveal the significant existence of gender biases in capital punishment proceedings. Women are exposed to intersectional discrimination throughout the judicial process leading to the death penalty as well as once on death row.

Similarly, the 2018 Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide report, shows that a large majority of women on death row are from ethnic and racial minorities, non-literate, have intellectual, mental and/or psychosocial disabilities, and have experienced gender-based violence.

In Kenya, statistics from the Kenya Prisons Service indicate that 22 women are on death row as of January 2023. Trends from the court cases also indicate that most of these women kill their male partners in self-defence; as a result, they are sentenced to death. Moreover, in most instances, courts do not consider instances of GBV as mitigating factors during sentencing, as a result, these women are disproportionately disadvantaged by the death sentence imposed on them.

Open Contracting Episode One

The Jurist's Take Podcast By ICJ KenyaAug 05, 2021