Right to Justice

The right to justice is a fundamental right of any human being. If this is denied to any person, then there is something seriously wrong with the system of justice. The denial can be in form of inaccessible system – where the laws, rules and regulations are all there but there are barriers and obstacles all the way. Persons with intellectual disabilities are quite used to such barriers and obstacles. Many cases of physical and sexual abuse reported to KSMH illustrate this fact very graphically. Take the following typical case for example:

A young girl of 14 with intellectual disability is a student in the special unit of the local primary school. She goes to school and comes back home; and is always accompanied by the mother or one of the family members. One day for some reason none of the family members are there to bring her back from school. She decides to walk home with one of the other children. The other child separates when she reaches her own home. The girl with intellectual disabilities now is alone and is walking home. She is suddenly assaulted, dragged into a nearby field and raped. She is also beaten and threatened that if she tells anyone she will be killed. She somehow comes home crying all battered, bruised and in a lot of pain. The mother immediately suspects rape. She talks to her daughter, examines her, cleans her up a bit and immediately takes her to the police. The real ordeal begins now.

The girl is known in the community as one with intellectual disability. The police refuse to take her statement. The girl says that she can identify her defiler but the police are adamant that they cannot take her statement. She is considered to be of “unsound mind”. This is what the police have been taught. Their training has not transitioned to modern times. Now the mother, as the complainant, gives her statement. A case is filed. Police do their investigations and find out that what the girl is saying is true and they also have a suspect.

In the court, the processes are not at all accommodating and friendly to persons with disabilities. The whole court environment seems very hostile to the girl. She cannot speak. The case is dismissed and her defiler goes free.

Justice is not accessible at all in such cases. KSMH has the huge task of bringing awareness to law and order institutions of government to the current world view of disabilities. Laws need to be changed, attitudes need to be changed, policies need to be changed to make justice accessible to persons with intellectual disabilities.

Kabete Orthopeadic Workshops, Next to Kabete Army Barracks, Opp ABC Place, Waiyaki Way, Westlands. | +254 20 445 0853/4 Mobile: +254 729476101/736476101 | infor@ksmh.org

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