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Towards the legal protection of married women: Combating and criminalising marital rape in Kenya

This dissertation addresses the most neglected form of sexual violence in Kenya - marital rape. Drawing from prevailing statistics and testimonies by survivors, it confirms the existence of marital rape in Kenya and delves deeper into the prevailing social and legal dynamics that condone it. On exam...

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Main Author: Guantai, Liz
Other Authors: Barratt, Amanda
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Private Law 2020
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access_status_str Open Access
author Guantai, Liz
author2 Barratt, Amanda
author_browse Barratt, Amanda
Guantai, Liz
author_facet Barratt, Amanda
Guantai, Liz
author_sort Guantai, Liz
collection Thesis
description This dissertation addresses the most neglected form of sexual violence in Kenya - marital rape. Drawing from prevailing statistics and testimonies by survivors, it confirms the existence of marital rape in Kenya and delves deeper into the prevailing social and legal dynamics that condone it. On examining the existing legal framework governing sexual violence in Kenya, the finding is that there is no law that explicitly criminalises marital rape. Marital rape is a human rights issue as it curtails women‟s enjoyment of their right to equality and dignity. This dissertation argues that Kenya has a duty to honour her State obligations under international human rights law to respect, protect and fulfill human rights. The dissertation concludes that by not criminalising marital rape, Kenya has failed to satisfy her treaty obligations under International Human Rights Law. The dissertation further draws insights from other jurisdictions‟ legal responses to marital rape through a comparative study of South Africa, India and Australia. The main recommendation of this dissertation is that Kenya should explicitly criminalise marital rape in order to respect, protect and fulfill her human rights obligations pertinent to women. Moreover, it is recommended that a comprehensive response to marital rape requires the State to embrace both legal and extra-legal reforms that will not only criminalise but ultimately combat marital rape in the long term.
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license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2020
publishDateRange 2020
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publisher Department of Private Law
publisherStr Department of Private Law
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/31812 Towards the legal protection of married women: Combating and criminalising marital rape in Kenya Guantai, Liz Barratt, Amanda Private Law This dissertation addresses the most neglected form of sexual violence in Kenya - marital rape. Drawing from prevailing statistics and testimonies by survivors, it confirms the existence of marital rape in Kenya and delves deeper into the prevailing social and legal dynamics that condone it. On examining the existing legal framework governing sexual violence in Kenya, the finding is that there is no law that explicitly criminalises marital rape. Marital rape is a human rights issue as it curtails women‟s enjoyment of their right to equality and dignity. This dissertation argues that Kenya has a duty to honour her State obligations under international human rights law to respect, protect and fulfill human rights. The dissertation concludes that by not criminalising marital rape, Kenya has failed to satisfy her treaty obligations under International Human Rights Law. The dissertation further draws insights from other jurisdictions‟ legal responses to marital rape through a comparative study of South Africa, India and Australia. The main recommendation of this dissertation is that Kenya should explicitly criminalise marital rape in order to respect, protect and fulfill her human rights obligations pertinent to women. Moreover, it is recommended that a comprehensive response to marital rape requires the State to embrace both legal and extra-legal reforms that will not only criminalise but ultimately combat marital rape in the long term. 2020-05-06T12:13:04Z 2020-05-06T12:13:04Z 2019 2020-05-06T01:40:46Z Master Thesis Masters LLM https://hdl.handle.net/11427/31812 eng application/pdf Department of Private Law Faculty of Law
spellingShingle Private Law
Guantai, Liz
Towards the legal protection of married women: Combating and criminalising marital rape in Kenya
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Towards the legal protection of married women: Combating and criminalising marital rape in Kenya
title_full Towards the legal protection of married women: Combating and criminalising marital rape in Kenya
title_fullStr Towards the legal protection of married women: Combating and criminalising marital rape in Kenya
title_full_unstemmed Towards the legal protection of married women: Combating and criminalising marital rape in Kenya
title_short Towards the legal protection of married women: Combating and criminalising marital rape in Kenya
title_sort towards the legal protection of married women combating and criminalising marital rape in kenya
topic Private Law
url https://hdl.handle.net/11427/31812
work_keys_str_mv AT guantailiz towardsthelegalprotectionofmarriedwomencombatingandcriminalisingmaritalrapeinkenya