Study: 78 per cent of girls sexually abused for water
By Irene.Githinji, February 4, 2022A new report has shown that 78.5 per cent of girls and young women in Kibra and Embakasi South neighbourhoods in Nairobi have been victims or survivors of sexual harassment at water points.
The survey, released yesterday, covered Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) areas of Kibra and Embakasi South. It demonstrated that 21.5 per cent of the respondents complained of sextortion.
“Existing legal framework does not define or recognise sextortion as corruption making it difficult to prosecute. Data on sextortion is scanty or non-existent due to limited research,” the findings.
Report was jointly conducted by Kenya Water and Sanitation Civil Society Network and African Civil Society Network on Water and Sanitation.
Findingsr indicate that 21.5 per cent of respondents knew victims of Sexual and Gender Based-Violence (SGBV).
Asked the form of SGBV they knew of, 77.4 per cent of the respondents said sexual harassment while 22.6 per cent cited sextortion.
The survey observes forms of sextortion included offer for sex as payment for water services and denial of water access for refusal to offer sex as payment.
Factors that contributed to SGBV at WASH facilities included crowding at 34.2 per cent, disrespect for women (28.1) and dug abuse (15.7). When place and time of occurrence of sexual incidents were sampled, 53.9 per cent of the respondents said at WASH and 20 per cent said en route to the facility.
Redress mechanism
The survey indicated that the most incidences of sextortion happened between 4am and 10 am as documented by 49.6 per cent of the respondents while 25.2 said mid-morning and afternoon respectively.
On response and redress mechanisms, 40 per cent said they did nothing, 24.9 per cent said they confronted the perpetrators, 19.4 per cent said they sought help while only 5.9 per cent reported to the police.
Some of the challenges identified to accessing WASH services included uncleanliness at 39.7 per cent, insufficient water (29.9) and log queues (24).
The organisations have now called for development of a legal definition and framework for sextortion to enable adequate prosecution of cases.
“There is need to implement legal training programmes, especially for judges and prosecutors so that they are aware of sextortion and how to prosecute it,” they recommended.
Organisations also called for training of girls and women on sextortion and other forms of SGBV, integration of sextortion in gender and equality policies as well as ethics and anti-corruption policies, programmes and regulations.