Ruptly
"Thousands of members of women's rights, human rights, and child protection groups marched in Nairobi on Monday, calling on the Kenyan government to take stronger action against gender-based violence and to declare a national crisis amid rising cases of femicide and missing children. Footage shows demonstrators filling the streets with chants and whistles while holding placards condemning the situation. Protesters also staged a sit-in around symbolic coffins and were also seen reading out victims' names to commemorate those killed and unaccounted for. "We have seen children being found with barbed wires across the street, and it's really disheartening. It's not safe for a woman or a child to walk just as a Kenyan to just talk about their business," said Faith Alai, a protester. Demonstrators called for increased funding to address the issue, along with legal reforms to better protect women and children. "We feel like we're going after the president, but we have our MPs, parliamentarians. Women representatives, those women are dying. I'm not seeing anyone saying anything," Alai added. "We have come here as Kenyans today to not only have the president declare this as a national emergency and a crisis, but equally to put in policy that speaks to it, that children and women don't have to be found mutilated, dead, raped and defiled," said another demonstrator. Under the banner of the End Femicide movement, several collectives issued a 40-day ultimatum for the government to declare gender-based violence a national crisis, warning of nationwide protests if their demands are not met, according to media reports. This comes as the Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya reports handling around 70 gender-based violence cases each week across its offices in Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kisumu. In a recent case on May 16, gospel singer Rachel Wandeto was allegedly attacked by three men who set her alight while she was walking home in Nairobi. She sustained burns to more than 85 per cent of her body and died two days later at Kenyatta National Hospital."
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