- During the investigations, several interviews were done revealing that the abuse has persisted for over a decade.
- KHRC Programme Manager Mary Kambo called on the government to conduct investigations into the allegation.
Image: THE STAR
The Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) and the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) have uncovered cases of alleged systematic sexual abuse, harassment and exploitation of women at an American-based organisation in Kenya.
According to a report done by the KHRC, the alleged abuses were carried out by senior male employees on the women who work at the organisation, female community members and even on the spouses of other male employees.
However, this report indicates that one of the accused companies responded saying that it had started internal investigations into the allegations.
The alleged sexual abuses reported included physical assault and attempted rape on the company premises, and also persistent harassment and use of humiliating sexualised slurs.
During the investigations, several interviews were done revealing that the abuse has persisted for over a decade.
Several persons accused of the abuse were repeatedly named by those interviewed.
In these cases, it is claimed that senior men in the company use their positions to demand sex in return for promotion and if the demands are refused, they are met with retribution including intimidation, bullying and being refused promotions and other work-related benefits.
One woman described how rejecting sexual advances leads women to “live and work in fear…because we can be dismissed at any time without good reason".
"Women are treated as sex objects but nothing happens because their alleged assaulters intimidate everybody," another employee said.
A male who was also interviewed said the women were treated in a cruel way, adding that he would not allow his sister or wife to work at the company.
"... because the things that will happen to her, they can affect her for the rest of her life," he added.
Reports were also uncovered about one alleged perpetrator who pursued the wives of male rangers and told them that their husbands’ employment depended on them having sex with him.
SOMO and KHRC also received testimonies from the women living near the project land about the encounters with the senior rangers that left them in physical pain, traumatised and humiliated.
If found gathering firewood or grazing their livestock on the land, they claimed that they would at times be forced to kneel on the ground for three hours or longer.
“We cried and cried but there was no mercy," one woman recalled ordeal.
The poverty in the region and limited employment alternatives mean people are desperate to get and keep jobs at the organisation.
This is regardless of the cost.
KHRC Programme Manager Mary Kambo called on the government to conduct investigations into the allegation.
“We are calling on the Kenyan government to conduct an independent investigation into the serious allegations of sexual abuse at the organisation," she said.
“As a bare minimum victims must get redress, perpetrators must be held to account and safeguards be put in place to protect the human rights of the employees and the local communities.”
On her part, SOMO Director Audrey Gaughran said the investigations had found compelling evidence that the culture at the organisation has enabled sexual abuse to become commonplace and common knowledge.
“Again and again we heard harrowing accounts of assault, abuse, intimidation, and degradation of women by men in positions of power at the organisation," she said.
“It is vital that the investigation into sexual abuse at the organisation be fully independent, compliant with human rights standards, and that it leads to accountability and remedy for all those affected."
Among customers of the projects are tech giants, production houses and oil companies.
SOMO has shared the findings of the report in advance with the companies, in writing.