Centre for Applied Human Rights
Ruth Mumbi
Kenya, CAHR, Autumn 2014
My name is Ruth Mumbi. I am a social justice activist, a community organiser and a strong defender of human/women's rights; I was born and brought up in the informal settlement of Mathare, which is a collection of slums, and the second largest informal settlement in Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya. Mathare takes up six square miles on the outskirts of Nairobi, with a population of approximately 500,000 people, majority of whom live in abject poverty and survive on less than a dollar a day. They face gross human rights violations from both state and non-state actors, namely illegal arrests, forceful evictions, forced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, executions, torture, domestic and sexual violence on women and girls and political violence during and after election periods.
I work with a social movement of women in the informal settlement called Bunge la Wamama Mashinani (BLM) that loosely translates to "grassroots women parliament". I am a founding member and the Coordinator of the organisation. The main aim of BLM is to give a voice to the disenfranchised women in the informal settlements; its vision is to see a liberated woman who has a voice and can stand firmly for her rights.
I facilitate community dialogue on social justice issues by empowering my community with knowledge, mobilizing them to expose malpractices by state officers, condemn human rights violations and demand accountability from the government. I also guide the women in the informal settlements on how to make demands on state organs, including demands for the arrest of persons who have committed sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) and where police failed to act; and demand justice for the victims and accountability from the police, by linking up victims of SGBV to human rights organisations where they can be offered free legal representation in court.
Because of my work I have been harassed, arrested and detained without trial for organising and leading demonstrations.
I have also documented many cases of HRDs at risk in the slums of Nairobi as well as cases of extrajudicial killings, torture and disappearances. These cases have been shared with the National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders, Independent Medical Legal Unit (IMLU) and other international organisations like Frontline Defenders, who have developed international urgent appeals and successfully facilitated emergency assistance for HRDs arrested, detained or maliciously prosecuted on account of their human rights work. Because of my work I have been harassed, arrested and detained without trial for organising and leading demonstrations and I have faced sexual molestation from the police during arrest. My work as a human rights defender has exposed me to difficulties and risks that originate from both informal groups and state actors, particularly the police.
My position as a community leader, organiser, vibrant and non-compromising HRD has seen me exposed to risk. In 2011 together with my colleague we were charged with incitement, were remanded for two days in prison. We had led women in our community to protest against repeated and un-investigated cases of maternal mortality at a local maternity ward when the police rounded us up. There were about five policemen who ordered the women to disperse, while hurling insults at them. I did not take it kindly, and politely asked the police to apologize to the women. At this moment women who had presently felt threatened and were about to disperse were emboldened by this action, and accordingly reminded the police of people's rights that they, as a public servants, were shamelessly violating.
In 2013 I was nominated and became a finalist of the Frontline Defenders International Human Rights Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk. In 2010 I led in the formation of and founded a vibrant movement of over 5,000 young women called warembo ni yes. The aim of the movement was to mobilize the power of young women to understand their increased rights in the then proposed constitution that later was endorsed by majority of the Kenyans in a referendum and became law.
I am currently on a human rights fellowship at the Centre for Applied Human Rights at the University of York, which is a great experience and respite.