Search
  1. Home
  2. East Africa
  3. Kenya

Rights abuses fuel female HIV infection

    JOHANNESBURG

    Women throughout Kenya lose their homes, land, and other property due to discriminatory laws and customs, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a new report released on Tuesday.

    The rights group says widows are forced to engage in risky sexual practices like "wife inheritance" in order to keep their property.

    "Women’s property rights violations are not only discriminatory, they may also prove deadly," executive director of the HRW Women’s Rights Division, LaShawn Jefferson, said in a statement.

    HRW said the violations and their impact are magnified by Kenya's high HIV/AIDS prevalence.

    UNAIDS estimates that 15 percent of the country's adults are infected with HIV/AIDS.

    To access the full report:
    http://hrw.org/reports/2003/kenya0303/

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

    Share this article

    Our ability to deliver compelling, field-based reporting on humanitarian crises rests on a few key principles: deep expertise, an unwavering commitment to amplifying affected voices, and a belief in the power of independent journalism to drive real change.

    We need your help to sustain and expand our work. Your donation will support our unique approach to journalism, helping fund everything from field-based investigations to the innovative storytelling that ensures marginalised voices are heard.

    Please consider joining our membership programme. Together, we can continue to make a meaningful impact on how the world responds to crises.

    Become a member of The New Humanitarian

    Support our journalism and become more involved in our community. Help us deliver informative, accessible, independent journalism that you can trust and provides accountability to the millions of people affected by crises worldwide.

    Join